A Fated Dragon Encounter
by The wiErDos Association
Summary: When a job that Natsu took left him a new member to join Fairy Tail, a new spark of adventure awaits them. What will Natsu do as he faces himself in the struggles of life, rival, battle and love? Just what did our oblivious dragonslayer have gotten himself into? Rated T at the moment might change over time. A NatsuXHarem! (ON HIATUS.)
1. Embarking on a Journey

**A/N: Heya! wiErD here.. :) This is my first time taking up a NatsuxHarem category and some OCs of my own too as it was also my first time creating a story with them lol so go easy on me guys. Enjoy :)**

 **Original Pic is not mine. Credits goes to its owner. Just edited it to my OC's features**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters... Just OCs :D**

* * *

 **\- Embarking on a Journey -**

Five years passed after the Grand Magic Games and Fairy Tail, the guild that was shunned and ridiculed to be the last and weakest of all for the last seven years finally made their way to the top.

Everything went back to normal except for the overflowing of job request coming from people all over Fiore requesting specific mages to do their handy work. One of those frequently chosen mages is Natsu who was sleeping soundly at the table with his friends and team.

After taking job requests one after another in the last three weeks left the fire dragonslayer soundly tired. It turned the energetic pinkette into a dead beat machine. And for the first time ever in his own life, he needed a break from his jobs.

As he have completed a mountain of requests, he also accumulated mountains of jewels that he kept just behind his home with his trusty blue Exceed, Happy.

He honestly didn't care if it was stolen and even if bandits caught sight of it, they didn't have the resources to take all of it and Natsu can easily hunt them down since he have his dragon nose to track them.

Having his head resting in the table with his arms supported below it, he made a low groan of tiredness that already caught the attention of his friends.

"Natsu are you alright?" Lucy worriedly asked as she patted his shoulders as a sign of friendly support.

Natsu didn't answer right away before making another groan that made the celestial mage sweatdropping.

"Natsu. You don't have to take all of them in one go. You could always take each one at a time. Don't overdo it." Erza spoke words of advice who were just across him.

"D-Dammit. And I thought right after the Grand Magic Games, I could finally relax from it but it added more work. I wished I didn't participate that day." Gray who was also at the same state as Natsu lay down in the table with a jaded expression on his face.

"It can't be helped. Being popular isn't as easy as it looks. Even the Sorceress Weekly has been coming here at least twice a month talking about our fight in the games but it focused more importantly on our appeal for the next magazine." Erza stated.

"I wanted to be on that magazine! Please Erza, teach how to become a beauty like you." Lucy pleaded with puppy dog eyes that made the redhead to sweatdrop.

As Lucy's senseless plea of advice to the scarlet knight became stuck as their discussion at the table, the two boys who of course, oblivious and have absolutely no idea of any kind girl talk made a intended groan that pissed the celestial mage who looked back towards them with eyes as big a white saucers that personified annoyance in a funny way.

"Shut it you two!" Lucy sneered in irritation that didn't faze any of the two of them from their current state.

The flow of the guild's days went on when Makarov received another job request that picked specific mages of his guild. He lazily sift through the instructions written as he only wanted to find who was requested. After a brief moment of sifting a piece of paper, he raised it in the air with his left hand as his other went searching for a beer-filled mug.

"Natsu." Master called out from the bar counter in hopes in getting the pinkette's attention. "They're requesting you again."

Hearing his master's calling, Natsu made his last stretch before standing up lazily from his seat. He looked back to his friends signaling his departure to his job again.

"He's gonna go out again. Sometimes, I can't help but to think that these jobs are starting eat more of our time as a group." Lucy pondered.

"I-It's not like that Lucy-san. It's just Natsu-san is pretty capable for almost anything. He almost has no flaws in his skills and will." Wendy who was being silent at the whole conversation earlier since she was intently listening to them every single word, managed to speak for their fire dragonslayer.

Lucy glanced around the bluenette as she heard her talking.

The sight of the sky dragonslayer slightly baffled her as it shown that she went under drastic changes in the past five years and had really grown height that measured that she was almost just above the celestial mage's eyes. Her hair became more silkier than ever as it slightly swayed down behind her back.

Her face that once bear the innocent smile of the girl five years ago disappeared that sooner sported the looks of teenage beauty while retaining her kindness and innocent attitude.

Lucy had mistaken her to be the same girl she met in those past years but after looking at her right now, it made to change her perception about the bluenette.

"Yeah right, no flaws. I'd like to see him running around without being sick in a train within 10 mins then we'll see who has no flaws." Lucy jokingly replied at Wendy's spoken statement of admiration for Natsu.

"I-It's not his motion sickness the problem here Lucy-san." Wendy couldn't help but sweatdrop at her friend's reply.

What she really understand is that Natsu is always been a great person to them and the other people he met and helped within the past few months.

Even going back at her time with Oracion Seis , Wendy's thoughts about his abilities and actions that somehow can move the hearts of everyone even if the hope is lost among them.

She started to admire him in that way to the point that she wanted to become like him. The one who would lead others despite the odds weighing down against them.

Setting their insights about their friend aside, they watched closely as Natsu completes his backpack and started to head on to journey.

"I'd like to accompany Natsu-san in his job today." Wendy suddenly perked up which made her friends' head tilt in confusion.

"Why all of a sudden Wendy?" The celestial mage asked.

"I just thought I could help him on the job. It's not a bad idea right?" Wendy asked her teammates in return.

"N-Not a bad idea Wendy. Well I guess Natsu could use some help to keep him awake in his job." Lucy halfheartedly replied.

"Go on Wendy. You're his teammate and family. You two must always look out for each other." Erza agreed as she wears a small but wide grin on her face as she looked at the bluenette.

"Yeah and we're the good family that literally look out for him. Not Wendy." Gray scoffed sarcastically at the actions of his other fellow guild mates that ticked Erza's veins which slightly scared the life out of the ice mage.

The sky dragonslayer also stood up from her seat and sent her farewell to her friends briefly before she started pacing herself towards the departing pinkette.

"I'll see you guys later." Wendy beamed as she made her way out of the guild leaving her friends.

"So why you two didn't come along with them?" Gray asked as he scooted over to the empty seat looking at the two Exceeds who were sitting beside them like nothing big happened to them.

"I'm taking a break also too. If Natsu is requested, I would've come along too but I'm way too tired." Happy spoke after taking a bite on his fish. Hearing the blue Exceed's blunt statement made Gray to fall down the floor comically.

"Hey aren't you his partner?!" Gray shouted in annoyance. What's wrong with this cat?

Charle drank her milk with some manners whereas, Happy set aside his fish and drank his own in one gulp which clearly shows the opposite. Apparently he was delighted to accompany Charle today.

His thoughts about Natsu were completely overwritten with his love-thoughts for a certain white cat.

Charle didn't mind the distance but whenever Happy's persistent advances were brought upon her, she would adamantly refuse which will cause the blue cat to enter a great depression from rejection.

But this moment of despondency would come to an end as Happy would start out again with a fresh attitude which annoyed the white Exceed to no end. But they're just eating together so it's kinda tolerable in Charle's account.

Going back to answer the ice mage's question, Charle nonchalantly drank her milk the second time before replying. "Because I'm giving her an opportunity."

"Her?" Three heads went total confusion as Gray, Lucy and Erza looked at the white cat with quizzical looks.

"Aye?" Happy who abruptly stopped eating fish halfway, also joined the trio. Charle calmly drank her milk for the last time as it was getting empty in the process.

"It's none of your business guys. Let's just keep the privacy of others into their own okay?" The white Exceed reminded as the tone of her voice was like a lecturing teacher which most people would clearly take into suggestion.

The four sighed, defeated as they were hoping to dig out information from Charle which she ended up with a striking lecture.

And the features of Fairy Tail went on again from brawling to mayhem.

* * *

Natsu gulped nervously as he found himself as he stood into another one of his biggest enemies to beat, the train.

Looking at the gap separating him from the train, he made a deep breathe before puffing his chest due to the anxious feeling of remembering something he shouldn't try to remember whenever he's on this train.

He took first step into the train feeling an involuntarily small vibration coming from below of it due to the engine whirring lacrima-power in it.

It took almost three minutes to finally put last bit of himself to the train. Onlookers at that time watched by as they witness the predicament. Even the train coordinator had to look at his watch every single moment as he patiently waited the staggering dragonslayer.

"D-Dammit I should have taken a walk from here." Natsu cursed his decision, choosing this route to his destination.

He thought about Happy that could help just fly him a few miles from here and drop him to let him on his way or ask Wendy to cast Troia unaware that the spell is already immune to him.

All this thinking is making him go crazy. He needed to focus at the job at hand.

Slowly making his way through the aisle of the train and into one of the vacant seats, Natsu tried to hold back the nausea trying to make its way to him.

He sat uncomfortably as he simply crashed himself in the vacant seat tossing his large back pack unto the other side.

Then the train made a slight movement signaling its detachment from its safety gears that was holding the train into the station. Feeling the train went into a steady motion, Natsu's sickness got worse.

"I-I can't hold it." Natsu stammered as he felt a sudden burst of queasiness in his mouth which he alerted him to cover his mouth to prevent it.

And that was the last straw as Natsu blacked out from the nausea. His final thoughts before going out made him question the world.

"Why does this have to be so much." His vision became shrouded in blackness and last thing he saw was a flow of blue hair rushing towards him.

* * *

"Natsu-san!" Wendy called out as she got inside the same train he was in too, only to see him black out into unconsciousness. She immediately tended him and tried to place his body into a more comfortable position.

"Your friend?" A female passenger asked from behind which carried the same worried look Wendy has after seeing him like this.

"Yes. He just can't handle transportation." Wendy explained.

"I-I see but why use a train if he knew he was sick to ride in it?" The passenger asked in confusion.

"He was way too tired to walk it so I guess he needed the fastest way to get there." Wendy continued as she finally finished patching her friend up and took a seat beside him.

"Are you sure he will be alright?"

"Don't worry. I'll be looking after him this time." Wendy stood from her seat and bowed in front the person.

"Thank you for your concern for him. I'd really appreciated it." The bluenette smiled catching the passenger to be surprised at her actions of respect.

"I-It's nothing. I'm just glad it was okay. I guess I'm going on my way now."

Wendy nodded in response as she watched the kind passenger walked back into her seat. She then went back into her still unconscious dragonslayer. She sat beside him sitting unconsciously with his head colliding the glass window of the train.

She could somehow see a tiny soul parting from his mouth which made Wendy to greatly worry about his well-being in a more humorous way.

After shifting him up over again from his seat, Wendy decided it's time to let his suffering go away. She placed both her hands unto him just a few centimeters away and began mustering her own magic. The area between him and her hands began to glow in bright blue-green as the magic she casts begins to take effect.

 **"Troia Xivilys."** Wendy spoke as the newly improve Troia of hers was chanted unto the dizzy dragonslayer. The glow now begins to circle around Natsu's head as it spiraled above the head before disappearing, seeing the magic entered his body to do the miracle.

Soon afterwards, Natsu began to feel calm in his unconscious state. The dizziness in his expression was completely replaced with a mild innocent face that was going into a slumber.

Wendy felt a sweat drip from her forehead which she naturally swiped away. It was her first time casting a new spell on Natsu. It probably took amounts of her magic power to cast the spell but she didn't care.

As long as she can give Natsu the help he needs specifically at transportation and his motion sickness, she's willing to give her all for the sake of his well-being.

"Natsu sure looks peaceful in his sleep." Wendy thought to herself as she stares at the sleeping dragonslayer.

"I wonder if sleeping while sitting is comfortable."

She tried to move him again carefully in his sleep as he made a slight stir that will make him fall the floor.

She looked down her legs in thought. A suggestion went through her mind.

"I wonder if I can let Natsu lay in my lap..." Wendy blushed not noticing of what she had thought. A few seconds of realization sent the sky dragonslayer to curl over herself in embarrassment. Her face deeply shaded in the color of red showing the great innocence the bluenette once had. Since when did she thought something like this?

"M-M-Me,,, N-Natsu o-on m-my lap?!" Wendy stuttered between words at her suggestion.

"I-It just for his sake right?" Wendy looked over herself searching a sign of support to her answer.

As she felt being tempted between her conscience on both sides, she finally gave up on letting him sleep like that and proceeded with her decision without the knowledge of the dragonslayer.

She started holding his shoulders to postion him first unto hers. She felt warm as he's in fact a fire dragonslayer so heat is the ever first thing that comes into her mind when approaching him.

Slowly holding down his weight in order not disturb his sleep and crash to her completely, she took careful steps until she was able to put his head into her lap. With Natsu still soundly asleep, she gazed upon him as she carefully let him as comfortable as he can be.

It was her first time seeing him this close before so it kinda makes her nervous around him. She thought about going back to her usual behavior and talk to him casually when he wakes up.

But after of what happened today, makes it hard for her to speak to him normally. Her heart was pounding like crazy that added nothing but fuel to her agitation.

As the train moves at a now fast pace, the inside of the train, with nothing a but the sound of the train wheels clashing underneath the tracks, continue to silence the atmosphere as Wendy patiently waits for Natsu to wake up. Her anxiety seemed to have disappeared when the silence took over the train.

The passengers' murmurs and the sound of the engine filled the dead air.

Natsu stirred slowly as his nose caught a scent. He was identifying it while he had his eyes closed. He twitched as he recognized the scent.

"Wendy. She's here." Natsu thought confusingly.

"Uh-no but her scent is strong. Is she near?" He slowly opened his eyes and saw the back pack on the other side of the seat, surprisingly placed neatly. He remembered he putted it without having the time to place it properly.

Finding himself quite fine despite the train's ongoing trip towards another station, he was greatly confused. And the last part of his mysterious awakening is that he could feel a soft object supporting him from the hard seat.

"W-Where am I?" He tried to turn his head on the other side to look up to the other side of where he was looking. It didn't take long for his heart to adjust as he was startled to see Wendy here with him. He meant, literally here with him.

"You're awake.." The sky dragonslayer gently smiled.

"W-Wendy! Why are you here?" He exclaimed as he was completely surprised at her presence here.

"I-I just thought you could use some help. I've seen you tired from these jobs so I'd like to help to lessen your burden." Wendy shyly replied looking over the sides, trying avoid his gaze on her with her looking back at him again every few seconds.

Natsu who was feeling fine, rose up from her lap which gave the sky dragonslayer a slightly depressing feeling that went unnoticed by him.

"Geez, you didn't have to help me all of that. But thanks Wendy. That's so kind of you." Natsu sheepishly replied, scratching the back of his head. Wendy having to relieve herself from her little depression, smiled.

"No problem at all Natsu. I'm here to help."

"Okay. It's a plan then." Natsu smiled clashing both fists together with one in an open palm that connected to closed fist. Before they could further in their conversation, Natsu remembered something he should have asked before waking up.

"By the way Wendy, I don't feel terrible even with the train moving. Did you do something about it?" The pinkette quirked an eyebrow.

Wendy giggled at his actions and replied happily. "Yep. I was working some powerful spells that could help you with your motion sickness."

"Thanks Wendy!" Natsu suddenly hugged the sky dragonslayer joyfully.

"That was a great help!" Natsu smiled as his arms are wrapped around the frozen bluenette. Natsu noticed the lack of movement from his friend as he tried to look towards her.

When the pinkette looked at her, he became confused for his friend as he saw her literally still from him. Hey eyes gazed somewhere as he tries to get himself at the center of her attention. Her face was shaded crimson red especially her cheeks which made him to ask the shocked dragonslayer.

"U-Uh Wendy? Are you alright?" As he asked her, she made a slight twitch having being called to attention by her friend.

"Heee." She stuttered. Natsu having to hear of the sky dragonslayer's unusual word, let go from the hug and looked at her quizzcally.

"Hiee?"

"Hiieeeyaaaa!" The inside of the train was then deafened by an ear-piercing shout coming from the mortified bluenette.

* * *

 **A/N: And stop here guys. I'll be giving an announcement regarding this story look forward to it. It should start to Wendy since I'm a NaWen shipper but then again, this is a NatusxHarem. It won't be just my favorite pairing present here.**

 **So it ends here for now guys see you next chapter.**

 **Your thoughts on this story? Leave a review :) I'd appreciated it. Like the story? Leave it a fav. or even follow.**

 **Thanks for reading :)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	2. Rescue and Fight

**A/N: Yow guys. wiErD here.**

 **Announcement!**

 **This story will start with a triple chapter. I will be posting three chapters after this story's release so it could get a headstart since I'm working on the other story I have "The Heart of Fire." Sorry guys but I'll be uploading very slow on this since I'm focused on that story. Don't worry I'm not abandoning this. I'll divide my time updating both stories as best as I can. It just hard to update both story at the same time xD.**

 **And here guys Enjoy :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters.. :P** **OCs are mine bwuhahah lol.**

* * *

 **\- Rescue and Fight -**

The train arrived at the station just in time from its schedule and passengers begin to disembark and some going in. Natsu and Wendy stepped out from the locomotive as they finally arrived to their destination.

"We're here." He cheerfully spoke to Wendy who was walking beside him with a down expression over her face.

"I'm sorry Natsu. I'm really sorry." She apologized but before she could proceed any further, Natsu patted her head as a sign of approval and support coming from him. She looked at him thoughtfully as she was being cheered up by him.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not angry or anything. Plus how could I get angry to you. You've never done anything wrong to me well except for Gray." Natsu replied. Wendy felt her anxiety going away just from those simple words from him.

That's one thing she liked about him: To be able to cheer everyone with just a smile and simple words.

As they continue to walk towards the place of their job request, Wendy touched her head gingerly to where Natsu patted her and smiled happily.

"Say Wendy, you've gotten taller now have you?" Natsu asked as he noticed just now of how much she changed. Yeah he just noticed NOW.

"Am I? Well I guess you can call it 'growing up' Natsu-san."

"I see. I mean you look a lot cuter than before." Natsu complimented that made her heart skip a beat.

Like what happened in the train earlier, Wendy could not help but blush as she was being complimented by Natsu every time. At least she had the strength to move freely despite being frozen in shock and embarrassment earlier.

"D-Do you think so?" She muttered while keeping her head down. Unaware for her, she was starting to play with her fingers like a child would do.

"Well yeah. You're the opposite of Erza which is very nice since I don't get smacked all the time. Plus you always heal me whenever I got myself some trouble."

He casually talked with hands around his back while looking above the skies unaware that the sky dragonslayer was listening to his every word carefully.

Wendy just looked at him with a puzzled look. She was sure she caught him very tired in the guild so why is he this energetic? His perkiness was like it came out of nowhere which is not a bad sign for her. She wanted him to be as active as ever well except for the brawl which she tries to dissuade him to do that didn't go well.

Wendy sighed in thought if ever one day she could try to ask Natsu to avoid fighting in side the guild but that would make the liveliness of the guild enter into an abrupt end.

Having to thought about the consequences of doing it, she knew that it will change the guild's mood.

After a few minutes of walking towards their designated destination, they managed to reach the place. Natsu and Wendy took a very long observation as they scanned the place. It was a mansion that spread wide as vast as the Heartifilia estate. Yup, it's pretty much like Lucy's former home.

Natsu had his jaw drop comically that followed also to Wendy who was also shocked at the huge mansion standing in front of them. As they made their way to the gate, they're immediately greeted by a middle-aged butler who was really expecting their arrival.

"Welcome Natsu-sama. And who might the girl be?" The butler asked as he caught sight of the bluenette. He was only addressed to wait for the fire mage but he never expected to have some company.

"Oh this is Wendy, my guildmate. I'd told her to come along too."

"I see. Well then, welcome Wendy-sama."

"L-Likewise." Wendy immediately returned the favor by bowing in respect.

"Same here old man." Natsu bluntly spoke to that made the sky dragonslayer to sweatdrop. "He surely doesn't have manners." Wendy thought.

"Let me guide to our master. He specifically requested you Natsu-sama of Fairy Tail for an important job." The butler explained.

"Sure lead the way." Natsu spoke in delight prompting the butler to lead them to the mansion. It took a few minutes before reaching to the door. They stopped before the butler begins to tell something important.

"And here we are. . ." The butler spoke but was briefly interrupted by the pinkette.

"Wait you said you'll lead us to the master. Why do I only see this goddamn door?" Natsu obliviously replied at made Wendy to comically fall down the floor.

"W-What?" The butler blinked for a few seconds as he tried to understand the fire dragonslayer's insensible statement. That's when Wendy finally got her composure back and tried to explain her friend's antics.

"S-Sorry about that. He just wasn't used to this kind of things." Wendy whispered to the butler in hopes of understanding the situation.

"Hey Wendy. Can I break this door?" Natsu asked, staring widely at the expensive door.

"Oh no you don't!" Wendy tried frantic attempts to stop the destructive fire mage from breaking it down as she turned her attention back to her fire-breathing would also knew that it will not be the end of it. He'd probably turn the whole place into a smoking wreck if he gets into one of his moods.

Witnessing the two's amusing actions made the butler smiled.

"Oh Youth..." is what he thought.

Coughing intently to catch the attention of the two dragonslayers, the butler placed his right hand, clenched tightly unto his mouth he tries to get back to the subject.

"Anyway, the master is inside. He wants to speak with you two in private so I won't be accompanying you any longer at this point."

"I see. Thank you butler-san." Hearing her formality to him, the butler slightly chuckled at her respectful action.

"My name is Henry."

"Oh um. Thank you Henry-san." Henry simply bowed at the two before leaving them at the door and went back at the gates. Having no more time to waste, both dragonslayers nodded as they readied themselves.

Opening the door slowly as it creaked loudly, Natsu and Wendy found themselves witnessing a vast variety of luxury in front of them. Starting from utensils that are only in display to huge portraits of the owner's family lineage.

They walked while looking at different pictures and paintings with each having their own sense of art.

A man wearing in his tuxedo clothes stood in front of them, seemingly expecting them. He seems to be on his middle age as it shows his wrinkled face and a mustache visible on his face. His hair is dyed in blonde just like Lucy but his age made the color of his age slightly mixed with pale as it shows his aging years.

The man caught sight of the person he wanted to see.

"Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail. It's nice to meet you in person."

Natsu stopped in his tracks before speaking.

"You're the one who requested me?"

"Indeed I am...My name is Yuriko Hatsumi. I'm owner of this mansion."

"Nice to meet you Yuriko-san." Wendy greeted politely.

"Nice to meet you too. Ms-"

"Wendy Marvell." The bluenette beamed.

"Of course, it's been a pleasure to meet you Ms. Wendy. I just never expected from my client to have brought a companion."

"Sorry about that." Natsu sheepishly apologized.

"Oh no need for apologies. I'm glad to have enough people to help me with my problem."

"Oh yeah! You asked me to help you right? What's the prob?" Natsu hurried went down to the subject.

"It's my daughter... Those fools have taken my daughter for a ransom."

Hearing a shocking story from Yuriko, both dragonslayers gape in shock.

"WHAT!"

* * *

 ** _At a near encampment..._**

Two figures tread carefully behind the trees that concealed their presence from a group of rogue mages who were patrolling the area. They suddenly stopped as they scanned their enemies thoroughly.

"How many are they?" Natsu asked the blue-haired girl.

"Fifteen at the front. I can't tell who's the leader among them. There maybe more of them at the camp." Wendy pointed a camp behind it.

"Okay. I'll do something about those guys. I think we're already set. Let's hope the old man's daughter is still there."

Wendy nodded as they prepared to initiate their plan. Natsu went back to the place facing the entrance seemingly intended to face the fifteen rogue mages on his own while Wendy had position herself at the sides waiting for the diversion to start so that she could rescue the girl taken hostage.

If what Yuriko's story was true, she will not hesitate to hold back at her enemies. This will her first time engaging on the offense against her opponents without support. It's time to show what really made of after these five years.

A loud eruption of fire burst out from the forest blowing anyone away from the intense heat, alarming the other mages in the vicinity to check it out.

"Where is your leader?!" Natsu steamrolled at the rogue mages trying to stop his advance blasting them away with a full force of his 'Fire Dragon' roar.

"Who are you?" One mage manage to ask the raging dragonslayer.

"I'm Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail. And you have something I want." He declared towards his enemies, cloaking his hands in fire.

"The famous Salamander. It's a pleasure to meet you." Another person came emerging among the mages.

"M-Master.." One frightened member managed to call out.

"So you're their leader?"

"Yes. What do you want Salamander?"

"Where's the old man's daughter?"

Realizing his thoughts about his purpose here, he quickly sighed at the dragonslayer.

"So the old man didn't even bother to show his face anymore. And what's more he decided to hire some mage to do the work. If he just gave the money then noth-" He was interrupted as a blazing punch went through his face in a blur that sent him crashing into one of the tent destroying it.

Men cowered in fear as their master was easily defeated by a fire mage. They began to flee in all direction to avoid the wrath of the dragonslayer.

Natsu didn't take his eyes on the spot where the master crashed. He knew he wasn't still down from that attack. Good thing he didn't underestimated him at first glance.

Then a moment sooner, the leader emerged from the debris with a scorched mark on his cheek where the punch landed.

"That stung." He made a few loud cracks on his head as he tries to straighten up.

"So it seems rumors about you are true."

"I don't give a damn as long I get to beat you up bastard." Natsu snarled as he instantly went on the offensive. The leader didn't waste time talking to the furious as he went to battle.

As they clashed, Wendy sneaked past behind and into the unguarded camp. She went inside and saw a table with a bunch of scrolls of information of their plans. She looked around for a girl but wasn't able to. She was nowhere to be found.

'She's not here. Where is she?' She thought deeply as she tried scanning her surroundings one more time. Then something caught her attention.

"Huh? This is odd." She muttered as she saw a rag below the table. She placed her hand on a rag like it was concealing something.

She let out the rag out of its place revealing a secret entrance below.

'This must be it.' She thought inwardly as she open the door, revealing a dark pit. She would fear what happen to the poor girl. Catching a torch in the sconce at the table, she slowly used the stairs as she went down to the pit.

As she went down, the light of her torch shone through a small room. Then she finally saw the girl and came rushing towards her. She wore ragged robes as she was taken prisoner. She had a long blonde hair stretching down on her back with two ringlets dangling in the front of her shoulders. But the beauty of her hair was dirtied as it was covered in dirt. She seemed to be the same age as her as she continued to analyze the girl.

She could see some slight bruises that she would guessed from the beating from those bad guys.

'Horrible.' Wendy felt sorrowful at the sight of the girl.

"I-Is someone there?" The girl managed to speak without any hints of fear or anxiety after all she went through that made Wendy to be confused but decided to brush it off her mind as she helped her unlocking the magic chains that suppresses one's magic.

Seeing it strapped unto the girl's wrists, she assumed she was a mage too.

"It's fine. Your father sent me to rescue you."

"Otou-san?"

"Yes. Don't worry we're getting you out here."

"We? You have another company." The girl seemed confused as she was told the girl alone was sent here.

"Yes. He's fighting the master right now buying us some time."

Hearing about the whole situation happening from the outside, the girl nodded as she wanted to get out of this dark place.

After freeing the girl in chains, she suddenly widen her eyes in surprise as her nose picked up an unusual scent at the girl.

"T-This smell... It can't be.."

* * *

 _ **Outside the camp...**_

Natsu continued to change attacks as he delivers a giant fire ball towards the leader.

 **"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"** He shouted in rage as the attack went towards the leader.

 **"Pillar of Akmer!"** The leader shouted as his the earth infront of him rose up into multiple walls of earth, protecting him from the impending attack.

The fire ball clashed violently as it sent shockwaves around them as the fireball destroyed one pillar after another. Unfortunately, the fireball didn;t have the power to last enough from the walls of earth as it died down with other walls still intact.

"I'm not done yet!" Natsu began casting one of his secret dragonslayer arts.

 **"Secret Dragon Slayer Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!"** Natsu spun his arms coated with fire in a circular fashion. The flames began to whirl towards the rogue leader. The flames are then followed by mini explosions around it giving it a tremendous force if anyone who would get might get hurt pretty bad.

Knowing the gravity of the situation, the leader didn't want to waste his time on this boy.

 **"Earth God's Bellowing Roar!"** The leader shouted in return as he unleashed a wave of dark earth and soil towards the incoming attack.

Natsu widen in alarm at the magic of his enemy.

"God Slayer?" Natsu spoke in disbelief.

Both attacks once again collided each other as each side continues to overpower one another until finally dying down due to the equal force of their attack emitted that ended a fading attack from both sides.

"Who are you? Why do you have a God Slaying Magic?" Natsu spoke.

"This. It's a lost art I obtained from an ancient ruins which you don't want to know."

"Tch.. Bastard."

"Done goofing around Salamander? Should we get more serious here."

"Who said I was even trying?"

After a brief moment of conversation between mages, the resumed their intense battle as both fire and earth raged the battle.

Natsu tries to deliver a flaming punch towards the man which he dodged easily at the side returning a high kick back at him.

The fire dragonslayer caught the incoming kick with his other hand before backhanding him away with force that sent him flying but easily recovered from mid-air before landing at a fair distance between them.

 **"Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Natsu let out a stream of flames from his mouth towards the god slayer.

"Let's see if you can survive this Salamander."

 **"Earth God's Crumbling Force!"**

The man slammed his fist in the ground creating a violent earthquake that opened the earth between thus going down at the fissure to avoid the flaming roar. The crack continued to head towards the fire dragonslayer, alerted him in the process as he tries to avoid the cracking earth that reached hundreds or even thousands of kilometers below if you fall.

He jumped from the side but the quake continued to crack widely as barely managed to hold at the edge of the ground but saw the fissure getting more biggger even dragging the camp which he assumed where Wendy is.

"Wendy!" He screamed in shock as the camp fell to the abyss but to his relief there was no person inside as it tumbled to show only objects and things from the rogue mage.

He grabbed desperately but the ground he was holding gave up as he was about to emerge. He widen in alarm as he was about to fall from the dark abyss.

 **"Wind Dragon's Soaring Stride!"** An unfamiliar voice pierced through his ear as he was caught by a girl at his clothes at his back as she carried themselves away from the cracking earth with a gust of wind.

"You alright?"

"Yeah! Thanks for saving me earlier." He thanked the blonde girl who nodded in acceptance.

"Natsu-san!" The voice of Wendy cut through his thoughts as he saw the blue-haired girl below them at a safe distance from the fissure.

"Wendy!" Natsu shouted in relief.

As the blonde girl landed down to her, she let go Natsu from her hold and regroup together.

"Natsu! I'm glad you're fine."

"Well I probably not if not by this girl though." Natsu reminded as he pointed to his savior.

"No problem. I'm always glad to help one of my own."

"Eh?" Natsu titled his head in confusion.

"Natsu. This is the daughter of Yuriko-san." Wendy pointed out her hand at the girl.

"Y-You mean she's the daughter of the old man?"

Wendy nodded in agreement as Natsu processed everything in his mind.

"She's a dragonslayer just like us."

"EEEEHHHH!" Natsu opened his eyes in shock. His eyes look like it's starting to fall out in their sockets. He looked at the blonde girl

"I forgot to introduce myself to you two. I'm Sara Hatsumi. Nice to meet you." The blonde girl smiled as she bowed her head in respect for the two.

"Natsu Dragneel."

"Wendy Marvell."

Both dragonslayers spoke their name in courtesy for their new companion.

"Oh! Should you be focusing on your opponent rather than chit-chatting about your names?" The leader emerged from in front as the fissure stopped expanding leaving a huge crack on the earth's surface from the forest.

"Be careful. He's Torvur, their leader and an Earth God Slayer." Sara looked back in caution.

"I already know..." Natsu glanced back facing the god slayer.

"G-God slayer? Like Chelia-san and-"

"Zambrow." Natsu finished but Wendy sweatdropped.

"Zancrow." Wendy corrected.

"But I never thought we'd encounter a god slayer around these parts." Sparking an interest on their conversation, Sara turned to ask with her eyes still focused on the enemy.

"You guys encountered someone like him?"

"Yes, many years back, Natsu challenged a Fire God Slayer, Zancrow." Wendy explained.

"I won that one." Natsu reminded.

"And I faced Chelia, a Sky God Slayer from the Grand Magic Games 5 years back. Not all God Slayers are bad. Chelia is a good person unlike the two of them." Wendy furthered her explanation to Sara who nodded upon understanding her story.

"I see."

"He's strong." Natsu faced once again Torvur with determined eyes.

"Don't underestimate him. Even I cannot defeat him alone."

"Well we're here. That makes us three. I know it's unfair but we needed each other to win." Natsu smiled at the girls who agreed afterwards.

"Done talking? You'd better talk more 'cause this will be the last time you're able to speak at each other."

"You're one cocky god slayer. Just wait till I put this fist inside your ugly face." Natsu snarled.

"We'll see about that. Come!" Torvur taunted as the three dragonslayers began their stances and prepare their respective elements.

The three dragonslayers stared still for a moment with Torvur doing the same anticipating who would be the first to make the first move. In an instant, Natsu suddenly attacked first leaving a a pink blur behind the girls that surprised them at the amazing speed the fire dragonslayer created.

Moving in blinding speeds, Natsu then prepares his own attack at Torvur as he neared him in just a moment.

 **"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** Natsu shouted in rage as he punched Torvur with the full force of his flaming fist. Torvur barely raised his fists to guard the incoming attack as it pushed him far away through the forest, knocking trees down as he was blown back by the intense punch.

"Let's go!" Sara urged Wendy to help as they sprinted towards the dragonslayer.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu grinned.

While waiting a few seconds for the dust settled down, they suddenly widen their eyes in alarm as the ground beneath them begins to crack.

Before they could be swallowed by the earth, Sara prepared her spell.

 **"Wind Dragon's Whirling Wave!"** Sara moved her arms in a circular fashion as winds swirl around the three of them and propelled them through the air and continued to whirl beneath their feet as the spell kept them afloat.

"I'm quite impressed that you have such a tricky spell like that. Seems like I'll have to bring down the dragons and bury them so deep that they won't able to see the light of the day." Torvur growled as he wiped a trail of blood coming from his mouth as the fist he received from the pinkette.

Even though, he manage to guard himself with his fists, the force of the attack penetrated his defense and went through his face.

'That pinky bastard' He inwardly cursed upon looking at the fire dragonslayer.

"Let's get serious here now dragons."

"Been waiting for you to say that." Natsu smirked as he readied once again.

"I'll be giving you support Natsu-san... Sara-san..." The wind dragonslayer slightly tilted her head in confusion.

"Don't worry. Wendy's magic doubles our power output. She can also strengthen her own magical power too. That's makes her a very skilled and challenging opponent. So let's leave it to her." Natsu patted her shoulder in assurance.

"Sure thing. I've been waiting for giving that guy a black eye."

"Great but you have to wait in line." Natsu grinned.

 **"Power of stout arms that tears heaven... ARMS!"**

 **"Fast wind that run the heavens... VERNIER!"**

 **"Defense that protects the heavens... ARMOR!**

Wendy recited her chants as a magical sky-blue circle appeared from her palms pointing upwards. Natsu and Sara then felt their magic glow around them in their respective color with Natsu in crimson red and with Sara in viridescent green. Each of their magical capabilities doubling at the chant from the sky dragonslayer.

"A-Amazing!" Sara mused.

"Let's go!" Natsu shouted as he sprinted opening up another flaming fist with Wendy's enhanced buff.

 **"Earth God's Pillaging Wrath!"** Torvur shouted as he slammed his hands on the ground that sent multiple earth spike towards the charging duo.

Natsu punched the spikes away with his flame-coated fists with ease while Sara gracefully dashed and doged every spike coming at her with her wind.

"Take this!" Natsu shouted as he landed his attack on Torvur who easily dodged backwards as the attack created a force blowing back earth and dirt from the spot he hit. But looked at his side in alarm as Sara came up with an attack of her own.

 **"Wind Dragon's Roar!"** Sara let out her version of dragon roar at Torvur. Unlike Wendy's roar, her roar is a concentrated vortex wind blades spiraling around it seemingly cutting anything that went in its way. Torvur was blown back a few meters towards the forest as the two regrouped with Wendy backing up behind them.

"That's awesome Sara!" Natsu cheerfully added at the display of their dragonslayer friend's power.

"Thank you.. But we can't let our guard down..."

Suddenly the ground shook violently around them, alarming them to be another earthquake Torvur created. Seeing him emerged again with multiple gashes and burnt marks from his body, Natsu can't identify if he's giving or still unharmed due to the sinister look he's giving.

"You three have been too annoying enough. It's time for me to end this." Torvur suddenly glowed in brown as the ground around him begins to shake as chunks of earth were torn from the ground and began to form into a giant enormous sphere above them ranging a hundred meters wide.

"This is bad. We can't escape this sphere if it comes crashing to us." Sara widen in disbelief as she looked at the giant sphere above them.

Natsu shook his head and went gazing at Wendy nodding in response.

"I know what I need to do. I just need your help on this you two." Natsu suggested seriously that earned both dragonslayers' attention to him.

After talking about the plan he devised, the three moved up to their battle stances as they also prepare their final attack.

"Let's go Sara-san." Wendy spoke which the wind dragonslayer nodded in response as the latter carried the two of them above the air just facing the giant sphere.

"I know this is our first time but Natsu believes in us. We should do it the same for him." Wendy spoke sincerely at the wind dragonslayer.

"Yeah!"

The two dragonslayers began sucking air around them as they readied their own roars. Natsu jumped high until reaching at the same altitude as the two dragonslayer with their roars ready at the same time.

"This is the end dragons.. Die!" He shouted as he finally finished his ultimate spell.

 **"Earth God's Celestial Judgement!"** He shouted as he guided the gigantic sphere to the three dragonslayer.

"Now" Natsu shouted briefly signalling his two friends.

 **"Unison Raid: Sky Wind Dragon's Twin Roar!"** A mixture of hurricane-like blast and vortex of wind blades combined as two dragonslayers let out their roar towards Natsu serving it as a headstart to increase his momentum towards the sphere.

The united roar blasted Natsu in high speeds as fire erupted from his body as it came to take form into a shape of a raging fire dragon encased in the roar. Then suddenly lightning began to spark around the fire dragonslayer as he seemingly activated his Lightning Flame Dragon mode during the attack.

Sara widen in shock as she witness an unnatural magic infront of her as Natsu comes closer to the sphere.

 **"Lightning Flame Dragon's Flashing Sword Horn!"** Natsu shouted in frustration as the took the attack head on.

Two attacks collided one another causing violent shockwaves that shook the forest underneath them blowing the two dragonslayers from the vicinity at the intense power struggle.

Torvur widen in alarm as the sphere begins to crack as the overpowering force of the fire dragonslayer pushed back the giant sphere. A few seconds later, the sphere of earth finally gave in as it breaks into pieces as Natsu's attack also dwindled from the equal force he emitted to stop sphere.

Not yet done with his attack, Natsu propelled himself halfway through the breaking sphere with jet streams of fire from his foot shocking the god slayer even more.

"I-Impossible... He was still able to proceed more after that attack?"

As Natsu neared him, Torvur could see an image of a red dragon behind Natsu, invoking its fury upon him.

"W-What are you?" He stuttered as he was left unguarded for his next attack. His fear overcame him as Natsu prepared his attack.

"I'm Natsu. A Dragonslayer. Never underestimate the power of the dragons!" He shouted in rage as lightning-enhanced flame coated around his right fist.

 **"Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!"** Natsu roared as he punched Torvur directly as the spell sent him flying further through forest leaving a huge crater to where the god slayer landed.

"I know we're winning but he's overdoing it!" Sara could only sweatdrop in surprise as the attack laid waste to the forest.

"He's just like that." Wendy agreed as she had witnessed this kind of situation over and over again.

Dust and smoke finally settled with a defeated Torvur wearing a voiceless scream in his face. His clothes torn and burned from the last attack.

Natsu finally won the battle as he descends down from the ground and comically crashes head-first getting the two girls to run up to him.

"Natsu!" They shouted as they traced his location.

"W-We won.." He muttered as the worthy opponent is finally defeated. Damn it's been a long time he was this fired up. He's going to need a lot of fire and food when he gets back. Getting his head off the ground he lay facing upward to the sky and slightly raised it a little seeing two of his companions in sight.

He smiled in relief as he peacefully laid down his head and closed his eyes in peace to rest.

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it guys chapter 2 stops here but look forward at next chapter which will posted also the same time as this. :)**

 **And of course, if anyone having confusing thoughts about Sara's magic. Let me explain. (clears throat.)**

 **Wind Dragon Slaying Magic is somewhat another branch of air magic aside from Sky Dragon Slaying Magic. Since the world of magic is diverse of different magic but bearing in the same basic element such as this comparison, there are many cases to differentiate one's magic to another.**

 **Going from their difference and similarities list here:**

 **\- Wind Dragon Slaying magic has more offensive capabilities than Sky Dragon Slaying magic but lacks supportive magic.**

 **\- Both have the power to heal.**

 **\- Color of their magical circles to their user differ as Wind is green while Sky is sky-blue.**

 **\- Both have the control and knowledge of wind currents to predict weather and both have the same power to eat air.**

 **\- Wind Dragon Slaying magic expand to create different combat tactics like escaping, sneaking or an assault while Sky Dragon Slaying Magic expand their combat tactics through their magic-enhanced buffs that double their magic output to last through the course of battle.**

 **\- Both are formidable lost magics that are not to be taken too lightly**

 **\- Both are Dragon Slaying art learn from dragons lol ( That was a joke.. xD) A Warrod Seeken reference huehue :3**

 **Anyways, the aftermath of their battle will continue on chapter 3 See you guys and thank you for reading :) PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	3. From Mates to Guildmates

**A/N: Domo! wiErD here.. As promised from the three chapter headstart on this story. Chapter 3 is here. I honestly stopped working the other story just for this but unfortunately, I would have to refocus back on that because it needs updating so guys bear with me :)**

 **Here's Chapter 3 Enjoy and Happy reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters... :P All goes to the Legendary Hiro Mashima.. I own my OCs tho...**

* * *

 **\- From Mates to Guildmates -**

Natsu had slightly woken up revealing a bright light shining above him. He couldn't remember where he was or what made him come over to this place.

Taking a glance around his surroundings, he was in a bed with some bandages plastered on his face and seemed to be resting for quite awhile now. He tried to think back about what happened to him the last time he was awake.

He remembered himself battling Torvur at the forest. Constant flashes of blurred images came entering his mind as he tried to process each of his memories at that time.

After taking a few minutes of processing his mind, he finally understood all the things he had done. He already defeated that irritating god slayer.

'Damn.. Even in just one enemy I get injured like this?' He would never tried to complain about it if he had to remember that part when he literally headbutted a gigantic sphere of earth to save his friends.

Speaking of friends, where are they? His mind looked over to the blue-haired dragonslayer which he saw immediately as she was patiently resting her head beside his bed. Wendy had her arms crossed with her tilted head above it to rest. She had never left his side after all this. Seeing her face peacefully sleeping beside him, Natsu patted her head gingerly to assure she's also safe.

Thinking back on his mind, he did remember another companion whom they had battled with against the god slayer though he cannot put his thoughts correctly.

Cutting his train of thought, he immediately heard the door at his right began to creak open as a figure slowly made its way to the room carrying a small tray consisting of medicine and food.

It revealed to be the blonde girl wearing a delicate green dress with intricate white designs all over waist and its skirt reaching down her feet. She wore a pair of luxurious heels under her feet which Natsu would have seen from rich people or Lucy.

Her age seems to be not over than twenty since she maybe as the same age as Wendy maybe 17 or 18. He didn't care. She had a very fair skin and handful of womanly curves that can make any man enticed in lust if they ever come close. Too bad Natsu wasn't that kind of perverted as he dismissed that part he saw of her.

He remembered now. She was Sara Hatsumi. The daughter of the old man he met. Unlike from what he had seen from her before, her hair seemed to have been washed thoroughly. She now wears a red ribbon strapped at her long blond hair behind her back. She had two twirled ringlets on both sides in front of her shoulder.

"You're awake..." Sara smiled at the injured dragonslayer. His black onyx eyes met her blue luminescent eyes in blank thoughts as he managed to snap back to his own self.

"I guess I am. Where am I?" Natsu asked as he tried to assess his surroundings after being out for who-knows-what.

"You're in my mansion or rather Otou-san's mansion." She replied softly as she laid down the tray at a nightstand beside his bed. Natsu nodded in agreement as they went silent for a moment. Neither don't have anything to talk about though since they briefly met each other in battle before waking up here to see her again.

It was then Sara had to break the silence.

"How's your injuries?"

"It's fine... I'm a dragonslayer... they get well over time."

"So am I.." Sara beamed as she took a seat across them to let the bluenette sleep peacefully without disturbing her.

"Oh yeah.. I remember Wendy told me about that. That's why you smell familiar."

"I, too was shocked to find another dragonslayer around here let alone two. My senses were dull at that time in my imprisonment from those bandits so I pretty much couldn't tell what you two are."

'Do I take that as a compliment or an insult?' Natsu inwardly thought but he easily brushed it off his head before remembering something.

"Wait.. What happened to that Torvur guy?"

"My dad and I handed him over the nearest Council outpost and had him delivered to the Magic Council for his crimes. Nothing big happened except you're unconscious at that time." Sara explained to the listening fire dragonslayer of what had transpired during his sleep.

"Damn, you should at least tied him somewhere so I could beat him up more." Natsu hissed inwardly at the thought. He wasn't content on that battle since it was unfair for him but a win's a win and they needed to since they're rescuing someone. He was cut short in his mind as Sara let out a small chuckle that puzzled the dragonslayer.

"You seemed to like fighting and sorts like that."

Natsu grinned in his toothy grin.

"Well it's a gift. What can I say?"

"You're very funny Natsu-san."

"T-Thanks I guess." The fire dragonslayer was taken aback of the compliment as he took the statement in a halfhearted reply. The blonde dragonslayer then placed the tray unto her lap before showing him some medicine.

"Here take this. It's a magical drug that will help you recover fast in just a few days."

"You didn't have to do that Sara. I'll just sleep it off."

"Nope. I insist." Sara pressed on wearing a silly smile that Natsu can't resist in her persistence. Sighing in defeat, he simply took the medicine and swallowed it whole without any water earning the blonde dragonslayer to sweatdrop. Well he can't handle water since he's a fire-breathing dragon so it's pretty much useless drinking one.

After drinking the medicine, Sara placed the tray at Natsu lap and held out a bowl with flames in it. Natsu was surprised to see one of his favorite food was intuitively prepared for him.

"How did you know this is my favorite?" Natsu exclaimed.

"We're both dragonslayers and Wendy-san too so I kinda looked up to the fact you're a fire type dragonslayer and assumed you like uh flammable stuff like that." Sara sheepishly replied.

"Well I am one though." Natsu affirmed her claim.

After briefly conversing about his food, Natsu reached out his spoon placed beside the flaming bowl but felt a jolt of pain from his body, restricting him from moving freely. Seems like the unjuries he got from the fight aren't fully healed yet even in just covered with bandages. Glad it wasn't covered in casts. Sara could see the reaction of his pain from moving as she took the initiative.

"Natsu-san let me help..." She reached out from her seat and grabbed the spoon in his place

She took a spoonful of flames in it before placing in front of Natsu readying his signal to swallow the flames.

"Ahhh~"

She blushed slightly as Natsu swallowed the flames whole and could tell in her mind that this somehow intimate for sensitive girls like her but Natsu still dismissed it as he was oblivious as ever.

"It's delicious. I know it's just a flame but there are something that made it more delicious." Natsu exclaimed in surprise.

"I made it with some magical ingredients to enhance the flavor of the flames. It's pretty much complicated."

"Whoa thanks." Natsu expressed his gratitude to the wind dragonslayer.

"No problem at all Natsu-san." She beamed in joy as she was grateful for complimenting her skills. But she suddenly frowned in thought of her new friend's injuries. He really is pretty injured at that time.

"Are your injuries still hurting?" Sara asked worriedly.

"Well if you had a giant ball of rock crashing towards you and you have no choice but to smash it with your head and body, then yes. It hurts." Natsu explained jokingly. Sara couldn't hold her laughter as she let out a giggle at the pinkette's words.

"You're saying such amusing things~" Sara laughed in between statement that made Natsu smile in his toothy grin.

"I'm awesome aren't I?"

"Oh yes you are.." Both dragonslayers laughed in their conversation that woke up the sleeping bluenette from the side of the bed. The two stopped for a moment as they looked towards the still drowsy sky dragonslayer.

"Hey Wendy did you sleep well?" Natsu grinned.

Seeing her friend awake and well, Wendy suddenly lost her sleepiness and hugged the injured fire mage from his neck.

"Natsu! You're okay!"

"Of course I am... Sorry for worrying you too much." Natsu sincerely apologized.

"Uhmm... " Wendy shook her head disapprovingly as she looked at him with a bright smile. "You don't need to Natsu-san.."

After being able to see her friend's state is in a stable condition, she took an expression of surprise when she manage to get a glimpse of her fellow dragonslayer friend.

"Sara?"

"Hi Wendy-san. I just came by to check his condition and bring some food."

"I see. Thank you Sara-san from taking care of Natsu-san." Wendy politely shook her head in respect and gratefulness at the blonde mage. Sara frantically waved her hands in embarrassment.

"Y-You don't need to thank me. I just did what I must do for the sake of my friends."

'Friends huh?' Natsu trailed off in thought. 'Uh, since when?' He thought confusingly.

Then after conversing with her friends, the course of the day continued with three dragonslayer happily conversing about getting to know each other. As the three talked more about themselves and their own stories, Henry knocked on the door politely as he only opened the door partially to hide the rest of his prescence from the three.

"Miss Hatsumi. Yuriko-sama had informed me to call you as soon as possible."

The happy blonde girl glanced back and cheerfully replied.

"I'll be right there Henry-san."

She looked back at Natsu who was still sitting on his bed to recover.

"We'll see each other again Natsu.." She briefly replied before turning to the sky dragonslayer. "Let's go Wendy-san. Let's give him some rest."

"Sure. Sara-san." The sky dragonslayer stood up from her seat and followed Sara through the door before shooting one last glance at Natsu.

"Get well soon Natsu." She replied softly as Natsu caught up with her reply and smiled back.

"Don't worry I'll be better in just a few days so don't worry about me." Natsu reassured the bluenette who grinned happily before closing the door behind her and closed the lacrima lights in the room, leaving Natsu alone in the large room.

Taking a moment to sigh before laying himself at the soft bed facing the ceiling of the room. He thought back at his encounter together with Sara. He didn't expect another dragonslayer would show up or rather leaving in a place like this. He thought about the possibilities of other dragonslayers out there.

If there are more, he would challenge them into a fight. It's just unfortunate that Sara's a girl. He can't challenge a girl. Guess he would have to go back to throwing down with Gray and Gajeel.

Upon mentioning his family at Fairy Tail, he felt a sense of homesickness since he could guess he was away from home for too long. He could probably think about what was happening in his guild right now; Master was running around in circles to where he and Wendy have gone. He seemed to be worried about the bill and not them. Typical.

He looked through the large window at his right and could see the illuminating moon at its brightest and the moonlight shining through the dark room including his face. He then felt the drowsiness crawling up to his eyes as his body began to relax and his heartbeat at its steady rate. The last thing he knew he was already covered in darkness as he dozed off from his sleep.

* * *

 _ **Two weeks later...**_

Natsu and Wendy stood just at the door of the mansion as the fire mage was able to recover from his injuries in just a few days but decided to spend time in the mansion for a few more days to relax which Wendy agreed also.

But they couldn't stay forever as they need to get back to the guild to inform everyone of their success in this job.

Yuriko who was seen standing also by the door beside Sara facing the duo, handed a large sack of jewels to them.

"Here's your reward for stopping those guys and saving my daughter. I was planning to use it as a payment for the ransom when I was out of options back then but thanks to you two, I won't be needing it. You two deserve it."

Both dragonslayers smiled in glee upon receiving but dropped their jaws as they looked the jewel reward was 2,000,000 million. It was twice as the original reward written on the paper.

'SO MANY!' If Lucy was here, she would have given a more funny expression seeing her obsessed with money.

Wendy looked at the gleaming jewels and looked back again to Yuriko.

"This is too much Yuriko-san." Wendy tried to reject.

"No. I think you two really earned it. It's the only thing I can show my gratitude to you two for saving my daughter."

Natsu somehow had his mind clicked as he thoughts didn't fall in one place and decided the man.

"Old man. Can I ask you something?" The fire mage suddenly perked up a question that caught Yuriko's attention.

"What is it Natsu-sama?"

"Did you know that your daughter was a dragonslayer?"

As soon as Natsu asked that question, Yuriko's expression suddenly changed from a happy expression into a more serious manner as he looked to his daughter.

"Seems like some truths are shown to you two." Yuriko replied.

"We're sorry if we offend you in any way. I'm just curious if you somehow knew or not." Natsu tried to apologize but was stopped by Yuriko who held out an open palm to stop.

"No need to apologize. I already knew that Sara was a dragonslayer."

Wendy and Natsu looked towards each other with worried looks as they returned to listen to the blonde-haired man. Yuriko glanced at Sara as he hoped to let her know the whole story.

After getting a nod from the wind dragonslayer, Yuriko shook his head briefly before looking back at the duo.

"The truth is, I'm not Sara's biological father." Yuriko spoke as the revelation that only gave Natsu and Wendy to look each other as they expected this since they were all the same.

"I was raised by Zephyria, my foster mother who was a wind dragon. I was just a child before until that incident 14 years ago." Sara continued his stepfather's discussion about their history. Both the dragonslayers continued even though they knew what the rest are.

"In July 7, X777. Zephyria suddenly disappeared from me without saying anything leaving me to fend for myself. I didn't know much about the outside world but I tried to get out because I won't able to find anything if I stayed in our cave waiting. I was mistaken though, the world was tough and hard. I was losing hope that time until Yuriko-san found me in the forest and took me in as his daughter." Sara finished her story that left Natsu and Wendy shocked even they knew the patterns.

"At first I didn't believe what Sara had told me back then, but when I witnessed she was able to cast magic at a young age, I believed in her." Yuriko added as he remembered a piece of his past with the wind dragonslayer.

"We may have the same color of our hair but it doesn't change the fact that I'm still adopted by Yuriko-san." Sara added.

"Have you tried searching for your foster mother?" Wendy tried to ask.

Sara could only frown in disappointment.

"Come with us." Natsu simply spoke that caught everyone's attention especially Sara.

"But I..." She paused thinking about going or staying. Deep inside her heart, she wanted to find Zephyria but a part of her wanted to stay here.. With his stepfather.

"We've been searching for own parents too. If you tag along we can help." Natsu continued as he felt something tugging his clothes at his sides. He saw Wendy with a saddened look on her face.

"Natsu..." She slowly shook her head in disapproval knowing it would be hard for Sara to choose between her newfound family and her foster dragon who taught her the ways of life before anyone else.

It was then Sara had made her decision as she immediately bowed to the duo.

"I'm sorry Natsu-san. But this is the family I'm with now."

The two let out a surprised reaction at her decision. Yuriko looked towards her with concern.

'Sara..'

With her final decision of declining their offer, Natsu calmed down and smiled. He don't need to force her on this.

"I see. Sorry for also bringing a tough question to you guys." Natsu simply scratched his head on his back, apologizing sincerely at the Hatsumis.

"I'm really sorry Natsu-san."

"Hey don't sweat it. It's your choice after all. There's no such thing as good or bad decisions. Only your heart tells it to be a good or a bad one." Natsu walked over to her and spoke to her softly with his own words. Sara could only widen in surprise as she lift her head facing the smiling fire mage. Wendy smiled from behind, touched by the fire mage's words.

After a few seconds, he looked back to Yuriko who was beside her.

"Old man. Thanks for taking care of us. It was a great help."

"It's no big deal Natsu-sama. I'm just helping out as many people as I could find."

Natsu finally walked back to Wendy before shooting their one last glance to their newfound friend.

"So I guess this is goodbye for now." Natsu spoke.

"Sara-san take care!" Wendy shouted to catch their attention.

"You too. Wendy-san. Don't forget to stop by once in a while." Sara returned the reply.

Saying their farewells to the Hatsumi family, they soon turned towards outside their gate and started to journey back to Fairy Tail. Sara who had her hand waving at the disappearing duo, finally held it down back to her side, her face shadowed her expression from their departure. Without any warning, she suddenly turned towards the mansion.

Yuriko glanced to her daughter too late as she walked back to her room. But he was able to catch a glimpse of tears coming from her eyes.

'Sara...'

* * *

 ** _Inside the train..._**

Natsu desperately holds on to his sanity as the ever famous nausea came crawling up to his body and mind threatening his life to pass out the moment he boarded the train. It was really out of his thought to remember such a formidable enemy.

"S-Somebody help me!" Natsu tried speak as his motion sickness kept kicking him in the gut.

"Wait just a moment Natsu-san." Wendy had her hands again placed at Natsu.

 **"Troia Xivilys."** Wendy had placed the same spell on Natsu to cure his motion sickness temporarily. As the magic took effect, Natsu's contorted face vanished as it was replaced with a relieved expression.

"Thanks Wendy.. I completely forgot about the train." Natsu apologized as he straightened himself to sit next to the sky dragonslayer. Then something when inside the fire mage's mind to wonder about the bluenette.

"Now that I think about, why aren't having motion sickness yet Wendy? You've definitely grown so much in these past five years." Natsu asked which also left the sky dragonslayer pondering about it too.

"Now that you mentioned it, It didn't really came. Pretty strange."

"Damn why do I have to suffer so much." Natsu felt defeated as he thinks that this must be his curse that would last forever in his lifetime.

"Uh N-Natsu-san." Wendy tried to cheer him up from his depression but to no avail as he simply stuck his face in the window wearing a depressing face in a funny way. After a few moments of his dilemma about transportation, he suddenly went back wearing a serious face that prompted Wendy to join in.

"But still I didn't expect her to choose her new family than 'Zephy'." Natsu suddenly shrugged killing off the serious face earlier that made Wendy to sweatdrop.

"It's Zephyria... Natsu-san.."

"Sorry my bad." He sheepishly apologized. but Wendy focused more on his question about the real reason behind Sara's decision at that time.

"Natsu... It's just probably hard for her to choose... From her current family to her previous one."

"I know.. that's why I didn't pressed on right?"

"You changed Natsu." For the first time Wendy called him by his name which made her blush slightly though it did go unaware for the fire mage. Way to go thick-head.

Leaning her head to rest on his shoulder to rest which the fire dragonslayer didn't mind, a groggy feeling crept into her eyes urging her to close her eyes but kept it steady to stay awake and talk to the fire dragonslayer.

"Hey ... Natsu..~" Her voice trailed off the end as the drowsy feeling kept fighting her.

"Yeah?"

"If.. Caitshelter was.. never an illusion... Would ... you still... invite me to.. Fairy.. Tail.?" Her words can't seemed to connect as she finally gave up as she became sleepy.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked quizzically having to hear it clearly in his heightened ears.

"Nothing...~~" With her last reply, she finally closed her eyes and sleep peacefully. Natsu sensed her friend's state and smile inwardly as he too, leaned his head towards her head to rest. They slept peacefully unaware of some onlookers who caught quick glances to them looking how adorable they're are. Some even murmured at each other.

"Oh how adorable."

"Are they a couple?"

"Shush you might wake them up."

The sounds of the outside were in vain as the two cared almost nothing but enjoying their slumber as they hugged tightly to each other.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia station...**_

Natsu finally got out of the train before his nausea could attack him with Wendy following next to him. It was already nighttime and the town was almost deserted as little people only flock the streets probably on a night shift.

"Mission accomplished." Natsu yawned as he stretched his arms wide as he was tired from the travel. When he gets home, he's not gonna leave his hammock for many days.

"Yes. We did it Natsu-san." Wendy smiled as their mission together went out smoothly for them.

"I need to go home right now. Happy's probably worried about me." Natsu suggested that also made Wendy to realize it too.

"Me too. I need to get back at Fairy Hills. Charle's waiting for me."

"I'll divide the money so I can give your share tomorrow morning." Natsu held out the sack of jewels and made his toothy grin much to the bluenette's delight.

"Thank you Natsu-san. Wendy beamed in joy.

"See ya Wendy."

"See you tomorrow Natsu-san."

Both said they goodbyes and went on their separate ways with Natsu heading back to his house for some very long rest.

Wendy sprinted along the streets of Magnolia as she went past different stores and buildings and even the guild which is already closed for the night. After a few more paces from the guild, she saw the Fairy Hills from the distance and started walking towards it.

Finally reaching the dorm, she opened the door which was still open for people who take night shifts. The hallway was empty but lit. She walked up the stairs and knocked on her door.

"Charle.. It's me Wendy. I'm back." Wendy simply spoke through the edge of the door to let the Exceed know. After a few moments of waiting, the door unlocked and opened with Wendy coming in.

"You're back. I was starting worry since you were gone for a long time." Charle shrugged between her paws as she saw her friend safe and well.

"We had a bit of problem along the way but we completed it. We got our reward." Wendy continued the conversation as she went over her oakwood dresser and undressed herself.

"Well that's good then.

The two went silent for a moment as Wendy finishes to change into her night clothes. She wore a light-blue pajama with little heart dots all over it. She held a pillow for her support. She finally crashed herself to bed and tried to sleep again from the tiredness. But before she could finally doze herself sleep, Charle mentioned something.

"By the way, did you finally made it?" Wendy slightly tilted her head out from the bed towards the night dressed Exceed.

"What do you mean Charle?"

The white Exceed could only sigh in thought as she knew that she forgotten about it.

"I mean, you're travelling with Natsu. I gave you a chance to be alone with him that's why I didn't come along." Charle explained. She already knew that Wendy had a crush on Natsu a few years back but never acted upon it. Seeing her mature and grown up all these years it made sense that she would be telling her feelings soon enough since she had come to that age.

She never liked it though but Wendy's growing feelings about Natsu became gradually stronger and she didn't know if there are other girls also waiting for the right moment to move. Lucky they didn't have anyone at the moment.

That's why she had to take the initiative and give Wendy a push before others could.

After hearing of what Charle had told her earlier. Wendy let out a steam between her ears and her face suddenly shaded in deep red.

"W-What do you mean?" Wendy squealed out of embarrassment as she remembered what she said before. She immediately covered herself with her pillow to mask her flustered face from the white Exceed. She did a few moves on their trip but unknowingly did it without her knowledge. She was just probably got lost in enjoying her time with the fire dragonslayer rather than telling what her goal really is.

"So did it go well?" Charle tried to ask. The sky dragonslayer didn't reply which she already knew.

"I take it as a no."

"I-I'm just not ready Charle."

"Wendy. I don't know if you're ready or not but you are not going to keep this longer you know." Charle warned. That's one thing that's holding Wendy back. Her shyness towards other especially at those she had feelings for. She sees that it didn't vanish during her years of growing up. It's going to be tough for her.

"Look if you had fun together with him, then it's fine. It's a progress Wendy." Charle smiled as she noticed the sky dragonslayer slightly peeked from her pillow with a pouted face.

"Y-You really think so?"

"Of course I am. Now let's think about this some other time. Get some sleep Wendy."

"Yes!" Wendy beamed as she laid herself properly in her bed as she began to doze to sleep. Charle flew towards the switch beside the door and turned off the lacrima lights as she returned to her cat bed and slept peacefully.

* * *

 _ **Three days later at Fairy Tail guild...**_

"Who you calling molester?"

"I am. In fact, I don't need to 'cause you look like one."

"What did you say Flame-shit?"

"I said, Piss off stripper."

"You fucking bastard!"

 **Tackle* Crash* Roll* Brawls* = Insanity and Entertainment.**

The familiar insults fill the air but for the most part was ignored since it was just Natsu and Gray which is fine. Almost everyday, there isn't a time where you cannot see them fighting each other. But time is progressing and the two haven't changed over the last few years even considering their frozen time on Tenroujima. They could probably think that even being frozen in time, the two would still fight. More importantly, it was more like an entertainment for most people inside the guild while others would think it as a running joke.

Good thing Erza was there to stop them. She caught their arms at the right time as they were doing the final attack.

Both mages flinched as Erza threatened to rotate their arms in the opposite direction.

"Ow ow! Okay I give up."

"Yeah we won't fight anymore."

Erza simply nodded as she let them go with Natsu and Gray stretching their arms to confirm nothing broke in their bone since it was Erza they're talking about.

"Good. Don't even try to fight again. You two had enough trouble." The scarlet knight warned them with serious eyes as they instantly followed her.

Giving their bickering at an abrupt end, Natsu and Gray went back to their seats, sitting quite away from each other with both faces scoffing at each other discreetly but they could tell they're really riling up against one another.

Lucy and Wendy together with the two Exceeds just sat at the center of the heated atmosphere between the two.

"E-Everyone please don't fight..." Wendy frantically tried to persuade her two teammates.

"It's no use Wendy. You can't really change these two. They're like two magnets pushing away each other." Lucy simply spoke out of concern for the sky dragonslayer since she's been trying to dissuade them from fighting but to no avail.

"Plus, they never fight for real. They just can't stand at each other's presence."

"I know but." She agreed but paused from her statement as she looked both at the fire and ice mages beginning to glare each other with hostile looks.

"Should I call Erza?" Charle proposed at the girls. The two mages somehow heard what Charle is saying and began to panic.

"No-No we're not fighting right?" Natsu patted the ice mage's back hard wearing a fake smile and friendship between the two.

"Y-Yeah. We're like best friends now." Both males felt the need to vomit those words later as they kept their poor attempt to become friends in front of Charle.

The white Exceed simply sighed and drank her cup of milk beside Happy with a fish in his hands. And for some quite time now, the blue Exceed hadn't been noisy as of now. Well he didn't have anything to talk about since it's just Natsu and Gray fighting inside the guild. Nothing new. While ignoring the two bickering mages, Lucy now came to ask Wendy.

"So how did the mission go?"

"It went well. We met some people and defeat some bad mages." Wendy smiled and talked about their mission.

"Well that's great for you Wendy. You starting to become more like a competent mage."

"Thank you Lucy-san."

Hearing the two of his teammates talking about their mission, Natsu stuffed out a 4 sacks of jewels out to the table.

"Hey guys. This is the reward I got from the old man in our job the other day." Natsu smiled. It would seem like he divided the reward for his friends.

"I don't need your jewels pinky." Gray scoffed but Natsu shoved the sack straight to his face literally which made him quite annoyed at the fire mage but inside he was thankful for the gift and gladly accepted it.

"But what about your share Natsu?" The celestial mage asked as he had nothing on his own.

"Well, I forgot I got a mountain of jewels behind my house when I returned that day. So I don't need it." Natsu sheepishly replied that made the others remember that he did have one since he's been doing a lot of job request asking for him but in the past few days, it quite subsided and Natsu was able to have fun inside the guild.

The three mages looked through the sack and was surprised at the amount of the jewels inside.

"500,000 thousand jewels?!" Lucy and Gray shouted in disbelief with Wendy and Natsu nodding like it was nothing.

"This is more than one mission to take Natsu and you said you divided it to the four of us. That would mean-" Lucy tried counting the total amount but Wendy answered for her.

"2,000,000 million."

"Holy shit! Just what kind of mission you took that day." Gray now became curious.

"Nothing just beating some thugs and rogue mages and rescuing a girl."

"A girl?" Gray and Lucy tilted their heads in confusion. Happy and Charle now became interested as well as they listened discreetly from the sides.

"Ah I didn't tell you about that. It turns out the client was a very rich man and the girl kidnapped was the daughter." Wendy began her story. But Natsu stood up as he grabbed the last sack of jewels.

"I'll be giving this to Erza. Be right back guys." Natsu waved as they gave a brief wave of their own as they were listening closely at the bluenette's story of their mission.

Going over to the scarlet knight who was sitting at the bar counter with Mirajane serving her favorite strawberry cake, Natsu called out to the two S-class mages.

"Hey guys. Whatcha doin'?" Natsu casually talked as he neared to them.

"Oh Good morning Natsu. We're okay as usual. How about you?"

"Fine too. Well my arm's still hurting from Erza." The scarlet knight heard him complaining.

"Well, that's because you and Gray haven't changed. You still fight each other." Erza reasoned while keeping an authority in her tone that made Natsu unable to retort back. Well shit. Still scared to take on the mighty Titania.

Dismissing about wishing him to batter Erza someday, Natsu held out the sack from his hand and gave it to Erza.

"What's this?" The redhead asked quizzically.

"It's my reward with Wendy the other day. I divided them for the team 'cause I had my own." Natsu explained.

"Well aren't you a generous person Natsu." Mirajane popped in.

"I dunno about that 'gellerus' thing." Natsu replied back with a puzzled look at the foreign word.

Mirajane simply giggled as she leans out to the counter reaching out her pinky finger to flick his chin that caught the fire dragonslayer blushing from the intimate exchange.

"Silly~ It's generous." Mirajane spoke softly not knowing that Erza is still there.

 **Cough***

They stopped as they saw Erza clearing her throat, deliberately intervened to the two.

"I'm still here Mirajane." Erza spoke sternly but unable to hide a slight red tint on her cheeks from what she saw earlier.

"Oh my~ I forgot.. Sorry Erza-chan." Mirajane simply apologized showing her childish attitude from the two.

She was completely startled when she saw those two. But her strong facade concealed it. It was going fine when they heard a surprised yell coming from the team.

"WHAT! You met another dragonslayer!?" Both Exceeds together with Gray and Lucy jumped out from their sits with their eyes nearly falling from out of their sockets.

"Watch it Gray! You're too noisy." Natsu suddenly went over to him giving a cold glare. Gray who instantly forgot his shocking expression and replaced it with a scoffing look at the fire mage before retorting.

"What did you say? You wanna go again?"

"Of course, my fists are ready to connect to your face you exhibitionist." As he finally let out a flaming aura of his own.

"Huh? You better be ready 'cause I'm not backing down Fire-breathing maniac."

"Bastard!"

Then the second revelation of two mages erupted from their seats and began trading blows at each other. Natsu yanked the ice mage's hair hard while the other delivers a uppercut sending far towards the table of short-tempered people.

"Watch it Salamander. You wanna go?" Gajeel hissed as he emerged from the debris and grabbed the fire mage by his collar.

"Real men fight with all their might. No backing down!." Elfman came emerging afterwards as he launched himself to the air to punch the Salamander but he was covered by Gajeel which he inevitably punched him, sending him to the ground. Natsu dodged at the sides and butted heads at Elfman, forgetting his beef with Gray.

"What the hell's your problem. He's mine."

"A real man should take anyone his rival."

"Good thing you ask." Natsu tackled the Take-over mage as the fight escalated with them crashing into more people who joined in the fray.

"Oi where do you think you're going flame-brain?" Gray stripped his blue coat leaving his torso naked and proceeded down the fray.

"Fuck you Elfman. Where are you?" Gajeel emerged with a slight lump in his head and saw the take-over mage fighting another guildmate.

"You're dead."

And the prominent brawl of Fairy Tail started as members kept trading blows at each other smashing chairs and destroying the wooden floor except from Erza's vicinity thinking they might anger her again. Erza wasn't up to it to stop the fight since she's the only one doing it almost everyday so she's quite tired from it. Lucky for the brawlers today.

Lucy and Wendy could only watch helplessly as the guild continues on with it's internal battle as they were safely hiding below their seats watching each battle unfold before them.

"I could get used to this by now but I'm not!" Lucy screamed in frustration.

"Me too.!" Wendy followed.

Charle sighed beside them.

As the guild roared louder at each passing second they were interrupted when a figure appeared from the guild doors.

"Um. Is this the famous Fairy Tail?"

Both sides stopped fighting as all their heads tilted towards the figure who interrupted their moment. The figure was a girl wearing a white dress with its skirt reaching down to her feet. She was wearing a parasol on her right while holding unto a small luggage on to her left.

The girl's hair was blonde like Lucy but much more brighter as it swayed down to her back with a ribbon tied at it's back together with a pair of ringlets dangling infront of her shoulders. Her eyes beaming in oceanic blue as it was seen from the guild members of the guild. The people inside the guild slowly widen their eyes in surprise at the figure.

The girl blinked a few times as she seemed to show up at a wrong time. Seeing the people stopped connecting their fists halfway and the heads of prying eyes over to her, made her take a few steps back due to uncertainty.

"I-I think I'll come back later then."

Before she could turn around and walk away, a crowd of boys went over to her, surrounding her to greet the beautiful girl nicely.

The only boys who were left from the guild floors was Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray seemingly dumbfounded at the current situation. Other members looked at the obvious actions of other males greeting the lady. Men these days.

"Welcome beautiful girl."

"We-I didn't mean to push you away."

"I can show you where Fairy Tail is."

"It's right here you dumbass! Don't act too cool." Another boy retorted.

"How old are you?"

"Go out with me!"

"Umm. P-Please. I can't.." The girl couldn't help but to frantically shove their questions away but the crowd of boys surrounding her is making her hard to get out of the situation.

"CUT IT OUT YOU MORONS!" A familiar voice of a redhead pierced to the minds of the boys around the girl as they all looked back seeing a frightening aura emitting from the scarlet knight heading towards them.

They immediately make way to the incoming scarlet knight.

"Sorry for their behavior. They're so riled up when they found a new face around here." Erza came over to the girl's view as she talked to her.

Part of the Erza statement was half-true though. The boys just found a jackpot! They should keep quiet about it before the Titania manages to find out.

"I-Is that so?" The girl finally regained her composure as she grabbed her luggage with her parasol and closed it.

Away from the crowd, Natsu and the two mages stood up from the commotion they just had before regrouping.

"Who's that girl?" Gray asked.

"Why should I know exhibitionist?" Natsu scoffed before the ice mage retorted.

"You really getting it Flame-prick." Gray grabbed his collar beginning their third bout.

"Natsu?" The voice of the girl sounded across them as the three looked towards the crowd with the girl looking at them back with her hands holding out from her chest with eyes of concern.

"Eh?" The rest of the guild tilted in confusion.

"I just heard my name.. Who said it?" Natsu let go from Gray's grasp as he looked back properly to the girl until he recognizes her. But before he could utter her name, the girl dropped her parasol and luggage and came sprinting inside the guild and towards the puzzled dragonslayer.

"Natsu!" The girl cried in joy as she leaped a few meters in front of the fire mage to tackle him, prompting him in alarm to catch her instinctively. The girl's force caused them to stagger as they both fell down on the floor sending the fire dragonslayer some jolt of pain. A back-aching thud sounded through the hall as Natsu caught the rest of their force on his own.

Poor bastard.

"It's good to see you again Natsu-kun." The girl smiled in joy catching the whole guild from her last statement. The noises inside the guild stopped wholly even the murmurs as well. It would seemed like the world stopped before them as all eyes are on the mysterious girl and their idiotic fire dragonslayer.

"NAT - - - - SU - - - - KUN?" All heads turned around at the fire dragonslayer.

"It's been awhile Natsu-kun." the girl then proceeded to wrap her arms around Natsu's neck tightly.

"Ack! Can't breathe!" Natsu yelped for his life as he was being hugged tightly by the girl.

"Sorry!" The girl suddenly let go of her grasp at the dragonslayer who was catching breaths afterwards.

"N-Natsu... Did you know that girl?" Erza stuttered, still in shock at the unknown relationship the girl has with Natsu.

Natsu simply sighed as he and Wendy seemed to be the only ones calm about the situation. But the latter was starting to get uneasy.

"Yeah.." He slowly stood up and greeted the girl properly. "It's been awhile Sara."

"It's been awhile Natsu-kun." And again, the people became confused at her last statement.

"Sorry if I may ask, what is your relationship with him." Erza followed back to the guild with the men behind her wearing pissed off looks at Natsu as she came towards Sara.

"Natsu-kun? He's my mate and partner." The blonde-haired girl smiled who unknowingly just created a big shockwave of surprises Fairy Tail has ever had as most of the male population of the guild fell down on the floor except Natsu and Gray. The girls blushing heavily together with Erza who was left in shock.

"EEEEHHHHH!"

* * *

 **A/N: AND here ya go. Chapter 3 stops here. So guys the three chapter headstart stops here. But don't worry I'll be updating once again after I updated the other story vice versa. And just a little note to you guys about my OC :)**

 **\- OC -**

 **Name : Sara Hatsumi (Last name inherited from her step-father but was kept in honor of his name for taking care of her)**

 **Age: 17 or 18 same age as Wendy. (considering the Tenroujima timeskip)**

 **Hobby: Drinking tea, reading novel books but will later be influenced by Erza's fetishes, dancing, etc.**

 **Likes: Fairy Tail, Team Natsu, Reading, Tea, Zephyria etc.**

 **Dislikes: Seeing her friends getting hurt, Perverted boys, Loud noises that constantly interrupts her work especially at reading, hated to see someone badmouthing her friends.**

 **Love interest: Natsu (assumption to this chapter as more will be revealed at later chapters)**

 **Mother: Zephyria "Wind Dragon"**

 **Father: Yuriko Hatsumi (non-biological father)**

 **That's the information I can give you guys for this chapter I would be posting this at some later chapters as her character develops more to this story. So this is it for now.**

 **Did you find the story interesting? Leave your thoughts in your reviews. Liked the story so far? Leave it a fav or even follow it. I would be grateful as this motivates me to write more. :)**

 **See you guys on the next chapter... :P - PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	4. A New Place to Stay

**A/N: Yow guys. wiErD here. Sorry for the delay. Putting up chapters on two stories one at a time is such a pain in the ass. But here I am. Back with another chapter :) . Let's give it a start as chapter 4 is finally here.**

 **And also for the ones giving their thoughts about the story, Thank you so much. I've been informed that I had few grammatical errors. Well I expected that since these last three chapters was rushed but don't worry. I'd rechecked all of them and if you have any problems concerning my grammar again. PM me so I can pinpoint my mistakes. Not 100% sure but it mostly has its errors corrected to make the story more better and fun to read.**

 **These past days had me refueling myself by watching animes and manga because I've been busy writing without watching my favorite shows. So sorry for delaying you guys. xD. I'm also intrigued with Akame Ga Kill hehe. Anime's shit so I'm currently on manga. Fav. pairing in that is TatsumixMine. Gotta go support that pairing in the future ;D And again sorry for the delay. My soul's been searching for new animes so I had to postpone this. Don't be angry. As I said I won't abandon everything. I'm so fired up writing this :)**

 **Back to you guys now. Here :)**

 **Enjoy and Have fun reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters...**

* * *

 **\- A New Place to Stay -**

The town of Magnolia was as bustling as ever as people with different roles on their lives flock the streets buying, talking, helping or even relaxing at the beautiful town. Everyone was happy and lively since they hold their pride high which was their guild, Fairy Tail. Ever since winning in the Grand Magic Games, Magnolia never felt so popular even from the tourists from other places in Fiore. It might probably one of Magnolia's golden age or some sort like that.

Speaking of their pride and guild, Fairy Tail remained the same as ever. The obnoxious tall building that lie at the north of the town symbolizes the hope of every townsfolk of Magnolia. People walked by to the large guild as they go around the town only to have been startled by a sudden outburst of shouts of disbelief and shock from the members inside.

"EEEEEHHHHHHH!"

A few people stopped to look at the guild as the shouts came from the inside. Oh they hoped that they'll not cause anymore destruction or even drag their problem elsewhere.

Inside the guild, Natsu and Sara look in bewilderment as most of the people around them fell down to the floor in shock. Even from the seats, they could see them practically shocked at the blonde girl's statement. Natsu even dropped his jaw in disbelief that even Mirajane the gossip of the guild had herself lying on the bar counter.

That didn't go as expected.

Erza seems to be the only one standing but she was in a daze unable to process the situation. With steam coming about from her head from such an embarrassing statement, her face matched the color of her scarlet hair.

"What just happened?" Natsu couldn't help but ask the shocked people around them.

"I don't know." Sara seemed to agree on the fire dragonslayer in which she didn't find her words unusual together with the fire mage. Hope she doesn't get oblivious just like the innocent dragonslayer.

"WAIT A MINUTE THERE YOU TWO!" A familiar voice boomed throughout the guildhall which caught the attention of the two dragonslayers. They turned around seeing Lucy emerged from her shock earlier and began to confirm what the other blondy said to them.

"Yow Lucy! Good thing you're still okay." Natsu waved from his best friend as she came over to them.

"No! We're not okay. . . . Just what did you do to that girl on that job." Lucy grabbed his collar giving off a scary look that slightly frightened the fire mage. As Natsu was about to answer he was intercepted by a certain scarlet knight who grabbed him afterwards in a silver blur and had her blade pointing at the fire mage giving the blonde mage a shock look.

"Erza!" Lucy shouted from afar.

"You better answer to my questions this time Natsu. What did you do to that girl?" Erza spoke seriously with matching blushes on her cheeks that indicate that she's flustered. But damn, she was still able to keep her strong image even after blushing. Wait since when did Erza blush?

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't dodge my question Natsu. D-Did you d-do those s-shameless things?" The mighty Titania finally stuttered as she thought about the fire dragonslayer and the girl making 'this' and 'that' in a closed room. Images came flashing to her mind indicating that they began to kiss passionately as their body temperature rises up and began unbuttoning their top clothes and. . .

Stop right there perverted Erza.

Imaginations inside the scarlet knight's head ran wild as the contents of Levy's smut novels came washing over her mind that destroyed her focus. Unable to process everything that goes in her mind, Erza dropped her sword making a loud clank from the ground as the scarlet knight staggered with her eyes spinning out of control from the shocking scenes her head is projecting.

"E-Erza?" Natsu could only look and bewilderment as he saw the knight was completely vulnerable infront of him.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Sara managed to call out from afar giving the downed boys a kick in their adrenaline hoping that it will be a misunderstanding about her statement earlier.

"N-Nothing of sorts Sara-san." Wendy who also got out from her shock manages to get herself near to the puzzled wind dragonslayer with her head looking sideways unable to look at her normally. "I-It's just. . . . You said he was your mate. ." Wendy shyly spoke that the people of the guild were hoping to confirm.

"Yes. He was my mate." Sara simply replied that blown back the boys back to unconsciousness with Wendy also backing away from the bold statement with her cheeks deep red.

'NOOOOO! DAMN YOU NATSU!' Thoughts of the boys mentally cursed the fire dragonslayer for having such a hot babe claiming to be his. . . . They know all to well how dragon culture works since it was Natsu and Gajeel who told about mating and stuff.

Not that they asked Wendy for that. She's way more innocent than Natsu and not dumb to read the atmosphere around here. But the way she acts when this topic is mentioned, she knows it all too well with the other resident dragonslayers in Fairy Tail.

Shit, how could a dumb, fire-breathing idiot like him get the jackpot?

"Isn't that what female dragons call themselves when they meet a male dragon?" Sara added.

 _'Wait what?!'_

All heads turned around the blonde girl's added statement as they tilted their heads in confusion. That's odd. The people were sure that a mate is called when a female dragon is claimed by a male one. Pretty sure it was normal since Natsu and Gajeel explained that which the latter gave more clear explanation to it rather than the former. That's why the extreme hostility of Erza towards Natsu was imminent from the start.

So this blonde girl had mistaken the fire-breathing idiot to be her mate since she had a different view of how dragon culture works.

"What do you mean?" A member called out from the busy crowd.

"I was saying that we dragons call ourselves mates when we meet a fellow male dragon such as Natsu-kun right now. . ."

Now they're getting more confused than ever. What the hell is this girl talking about. Even Gajeel who told them everything was intrigued at the new fact.

Wendy instantly had herself washed with relief. For a second there, she thought Sara would be holding feelings for Natsu. So even the innocent and cute Wendy could bear jealousy at someone. Not that everyone actually knows about it except for a certain white Exceed who was secretly watching from the sidelines.

"I think she liiikkkkeeesss yooouuu!" Happy appeared with his famous impression that was immediately silence by the boys emerging from their shock for the second time, glaring at the blue Exceed.

"SHE'S NOT!" The boys shouted in annoyance at the impression that gave the poor Exceed the chills.

"A-Aye. . . ."

"Oi just what the hell are you doing with Happy?" Natsu glowered to the men picking on his Exceed.

"Natsu~ They're bullying me. Get 'em." Happy flew over to his partner in hopes for his safety from the angry mob of boys.

"With pleasure! No one messes around my cat! You hear me!" Natsu came charging towards the boys with the other side giving the same annoying look at the dragonslayer. Not because he was getting riled up in some cat but because of him being so damn lucky.

And once again, the battle between men and Natsu began leaving the mentioned blonde girl. Sara then again witnessed another brawl broke out in an early pace as tables were turned, floors were left cracked and people were thrown with scorching marks on their butts.

"Oi you want some challenge Flame-brain?" Gray scoffed as he came into view since he was secretly watching from the side, laughing at the whole comedian act between Natsu, the boys, and the blonde girl.

"First place taking down as many as you can from this shits." Natsu smirked pointing at the mob of boys coming into him.

"You're on!"

And then the two rivals begin punching anyone goes on their way like almost like flicking them away easily with their own fists. So much entertainment and mayhem going around the guild as two mages continued on their contest towards the members.

"What are we? Tools for your challenge?" A random member retorted in annoyance but only receiving a cold stare from the two mages.

 **"Yeah. You got a problem?"** Giving off their scary looks they simultaneously punched the guy into the face sending him to a wall. Not long after the two rivals butted their heads again.

"That's mine."

"No, mine."

"My punch was 0.45 milliseconds before you.."

"Who the hell would even dare record that time? You stupid exhibitionist."

"Now look what have you done you idiotic cat!" Lucy scolded the blue Exceed flying beside her watching the fight continued. Happy however, had changed his expression back to normal. The blue Exceed simply waved off the scolding before sagely speaking beside her.

"I just want Natsu not to get killed by boys." Happy smirked earning the blonde mage to raise her brow.

"What do you mean?"

"You're such a turtle Luigi." Happy could on sigh in disappointment before being smacked from the head by Lucy.

"It's Lucy! We've been teammates for a long time and you started to become like Natsu." The blonde mage could only hiss in annoyance at the blue cat but he wouldn't stop there as he teased her again with another question.

"Eh? Since when did you became part of us?" Happy teased as he had his tongue out in annoyance that ticked Lucy to no end. Just what does this Exceed wants to do?

"You dumb cat!" Lucy went sprinting to catch the annoying cat. Happy simply flew farther before Lucy could get to him. Now they're running in circles with Happy with his carefree attitude while being chased by a enraged celestial mage.

"That's the spirit Lucy. Let Fairy Tail sink into your mind. Soon you'll be joining in the fray with Gray and Natsu." Happy pumped his paw in the air seeing the effect is already taking place.

So that was his plan all along. To increase this guild's insanity. We already have enough one cat to fill that insanity meter. She doesn't need to play along with his tricks. But still it pisses her. Fuck this tolerance!

With the Exceed and the celestial mage joining the mayhem, Wendy was left dumbfounded along with Charle seeing the brawl broke out in large scales. It's quite surprising that Erza wasn't there.

Speaking of the redhead, they found her slumped to a nearby pillar still dazed in her own delusional dream of romantic smuts concerning Natsu and her- I mean the blonde girl.

Nope. The people didn't knew that.

Wendy and Charle sweatdropped as she came over to Sara who was standing and watching in awe as the brawl continued.

"So this is what Natsu-kun do everyday." Sara perked up a question beside Wendy as she came beside her with Charle floating also beside her.

"Yep. This is Fairy Tail." Wendy sheepishly replied.

"Sorry for this mess. It's just normal for them to fight always when they're not having jobs." Charle shrugged. But Wendy remembered the thing she wanted to ask the blonde dragonslayer just before she appeared to the guild.

"Oh that reminds me. What are you doing here Sara?" The bluenette asked.

Sara could only smile happily at her dragonslayer friend. "What's it look like? I'm joining Fairy Tail."

Simple and soft words reached to the brawling fights of the members of Fairy Tail which prompted them to stop half-way as they looked back at Sara. The sounds of the brawl came into an abrupt end as they all stopped doing what they're doing and focused only to Sara. The mentioned girl of course, was slightly uncertain as eyes of people were on hers. She couldn't tell whether she said something good or bad.

Wendy and Charle could only sweatdropped as they assumed what would happen next.

The boys of course, with Macao and Wakaba in the lead came rushing towards her, leaving the brawl fight earlier and began introducing themselves at the blonde girl as they again left their venture leaving Natsu and Gray behind who went back on their glorious escapade.

"Hmph. Boys..." Charle hissed. Wendy could only force a reassuring smile at her Exceed.

But as the whole predicament could continue any further, they were silenced by a very commanding voice above the 2nd floor as a small figure wearing a white tunic and black pants which then was covered with a formal white coat with white fur around the edge. He has a symbol of the Ten Wizard Saints at the back of his coat which indicates he's a powerful mage indeed. People turned around to see Master Makarov standing over the ledge, his eyes seemingly focus to his brats causing such a ruckus in the start of the day.

Erza managed to snap out of her thoughts as the Master came into view giving the chance to stand up in attention. Everyone also stopped doing their current ventures and stood to attention to the guild master. Mirajane had to regain her composure as she saw her master above them.

"What a pain. . . I'm just finished handling Council papers and then this happens." Makarov closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment as he saw his guildhall torn into a mess. A couple of heads sweatdropped and some whistled innocently as the ones who were involved tried to get away from the Master's scolding session. Looking over to his 'brats', he quickly caught sight of the blonde girl standing amongst them.

 _'She's not around here is she?'_ Makarov thought inwardly as he looked to the blonde girl with confused eyes. Simply taking one step into thin air, Makarov floated down to the floor as members make way for the master as he walked towards the blonde girl. After nearing the blonde girl, he stopped a few feet away from her.

The silence between them and to the people inside the guild made it very difficult to say what to do at the moment. All they did is wait for the two to do something from this tense atmosphere.

"U-Um. Do you need something?" Sara couldn't help but ask uneasily as she couldn't tell what's going on especially with this man in front of her.

With Makarov hearing Sara's question to him, he lightly jerked to attention. Then he suddenly looked up to her with his serious gaze that even made Sara to become more uncertain of what's going to happen.

"Say. . . . Are you single missy?" Makarov quickly hooted changing his serious face into a more goofy one as his womanizing skills went on.

Sara could only blink her eyes for a second as she tried to process what the old man said. And some of Team Natsu couldn't help but gawk at the shocking statement.

"YOU DAMN OLD GEEZER!" Then all the people inside the guild shouted in great anger and came surrounding the guildmaster wearing death glares at him including Erza and Mirajane. He should've said it at the right time. He just got up in the moment and that costed him as he was rounded up in a corner with swords and killing aura coming out from the two S- Class mages with the boys right behind them.

"Master, just what are doing in front of our guest?" Erza felt a vein poppin out in annoyance a the master as a killing aura erupted in her body that gavethe old man the chills from his spine. It's not just Erza as Makarov could see Mirajane, another S-class mage giving off a sweet and deadly smile at the master.

"Oh my, just when did you start acting like this Master?"

"Ah hello, Erza-chan. Mira-chan. I just wanted to joke with the new girl here." Makarov tried for his best excuse to escape the wrath of his female brats as their eyes leering down on him scarily. He could hear the knuckling sounds of their fists and he knew he's in a world of pain if this continues.

"That's not even a good joke Master." Mirajane still smiled with her aura physically visible around her.

"Prepare yourself Master!" Erza came in with her giant hammer focused only at the little man. The mighty Titania readied her hammer at one mighty swing headed staright into the guildmaster. Shadows of the hammer came bigger and bigger as Makarov's face are dreaded with sweat from the nervousness and fear from the hammer.

"Come on guys. . . . ." His words were ignored as the hammer slowly came into contact on his bald head.

From that day, Makarov never spoke once again. . .

* * *

Sara got herself in front of Mirajane as she was in the process of joining up on Fairy Tail. The whole mess were able to settle down as Mirajane and Erza took control of the situation much to the boys' unhappiness wavering over their faces. It was pretty one chaotic day here at Fairy Tail and it all started at one simple misunderstanding regarding their fire dragonslayer and he only cared so little about it. After all he's dense as a tin can.

"Where do you want your guild mark Sara-chan?" Mirajane asked. Sara stopped to think for a moment before looking over to the fire dragonslayer who was again caught another beef with Gray even after the fighting and brawling had ceased.

The demon barmaid noticed Sara's been spacing out for the first time ever since she set foot in Fairy Tail.

"Is something wrong Sara-chan?"

"Uh-Uhh Nothing Mira-san. Just thinking about something. . . . .I've decided." She spoke momentarily as she finally decided.

Pointing over to her right shoulder with her fingers jut below it, she smiled in determination. "I'd like my guild mark here."

"Righto then." Mirajane smiled sincerely before stamping her shoulder with a green Fairy Tail guild mark appearing after its stamping.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail.. Sara."

"Thank you." Sara sincerely bowed down to the barmaid in respect as she looked up to her again. "I hope that I would be friends with you Mira-san."

"I'd like to be friends with you Sara-san. Everyone here in Fairy Tail is family."

"Thank you again. I hope to make friends here with everyone." The wind dragonslayer smiled happily as she caught a glimpse of the fire dragonslayer waving over to her.

"Seems like Natsu was eager to meet you with his friends. Go on Sara-san." Mirajane smiled as she slightly pushed Sara's back with her two hands showing moral support to the new member. That's Mirajane for you. Whenever a new member joins inside Fairy Tail, she would erased their uncertainty and give them courage to open to the others as well.

The barmaid watched as the blonde girl went over to Team Natsu before frowning slightly in thought.

'What was that feeling earlier?' She thought inwardly as she could not process at what happened to her after that big misunderstanding with Natsu. She was extremely shocked at that time. She slightly gripped the part of her clothes where her chest was located and felt uneasy about the shaky feeling.

Knowing that it will only waste her time thinking deeply, she quickly brushed it aside. She knew that there are people in the guild who are quick in observing other people's problems. One for example would be the fire-breathing pyro of theirs. If Natsu ever catches anyone's problems just by looking at their faces, he would undoubtedly intervene and help those in need. She wanted like that but she also didn't want to burden him more than ever. He already helped her and the family more than anything such as bringing her lost sister back which they all generally knew was dead.

That's all she needed. For now, all she wants is the happiness of her family and guild. Maybe in the future, she might help others too just like he always do. Her suffering already ended and she must look forward with her family without any fear weighing her down. She gave a smile towards Team Natsu before returning to the bar to serve the thirsty members.

Sara steadied her pace as she walked over to Team Natsu waiting for her. Natsu had been waving over to her to come over in his seat with Happy doing the same as he floats beside him like a loyal servant. That's the first time Sara seeing a flying cat. Over to his side was Wendy shyly waiting for her to come over with Lucy bearing a carefree attitude for the new member. Then there goes Gray sitting to the other side of his rival, scowling every time he heard his rival's annoying voice but was forced to do it inwardly as he was accompanied by the mighty Titania who had her arms crossed to watch the two from getting into another argument.

"Yow Sara! Good to see you." Natsu spoke casually at his new friend and guildmate who returned a smile before sitting down across them.

"Good to see you to Natsu." She beamed to the fire dragonslayer before turning to the rest of the team. "Nice to meet you all everyone."

"Nice to meet you too Sara." Erza smiled with Lucy following the same statement.

"My name's Erza Scarlet. It's probably your first time meeting me." The redhead formally replied of her introduction to the wind dragonslayer.

"I'm Lucy Heartifilia." The celestial mage reached out for her hand for shaking an approval of friendship which the wind dragonslayer also returned the favor.

"I'm Happy and this is Charle." The blue Exceed smiled happily as he introduced himself before motioning his hands at the white Exceed to introduce her too.

"Hey mind your own business!" Charle spoke in annoyance for mentioning her name only to be calmed down by Wendy.

"I'm Gray Fullbuster." Gray simply spoke out of his name lazily before pointing a finger at Natsu. "That one over there is Flame-brain."

Natsu twitched a brow after being insulted once again and stood up from his seat before butting heads at the ice mage even though they're across the table.

"What did you say Ice-prick?"

"You got a problem with that?"

But before they could batter another verbal insult to each other, Erza smacked their heads with her ironclad hands to which the two mages reacted to the pain and held onto their heads gingerly. Wendy could only watch in amusement as the usual routine in their team goes on. It was then she wondered something about the wind dragonslayer.

"Sara-san. May I ask you something?" Wendy spoke earning Sara's attention as the bickering went on.

"What is it Wendy?"

"Why did you join Fairy Tail? What happened to Yuriko-san?" Hearing her words, Natsu and the other stopped and looked at the wind dragonslayer with curiosity. That's right. They never had the time to ask about her reasons of doing so in joining Fairy Tail.

Sara looked down with her face showing signs of slight sadness as she tries to remember what happened in the past few days.

"Well that's. . . ." Her words trailed off as her memories returned to her.

* * *

 ** _Flashback..._**

 _It was already night at the Hatsumi household and Yuriko stood in front of the room of her daughter with a door leading him inside. She's been inside her room after her friends departed. He thinks that she was unable to answer them clearly as she was troubled by him. He knew that one day that it will come to this. The day where she will choose between him and her forgotten family. He didn't exactly thought all this through and he couldn't bear the fact that his daughter is having troubles because of it. He has to do something about it as a parent. May it be adopted or not, he still greatly cared for her and wanted her to be happy._

 _Taking one last deep breathe, he held out his right hand and began knocking the door, hoping that she will answer to him._

 _"Sara. It's me. ." He spoke calmly, patiently waiting for her response._

 _He tried to reach at the door knob and tried to rotate it. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. The door silently creaked open as his head searched out to the darkened room for her daughter. The room was only illuminated by the moonlight near a large window just infront of the bed with shadows and darkness covering most of the entire room. He then finally caught sight of Sara sitting on the chair facing the window as the moon shone bright as the night goes on. Her shadow obscuring the light to the bed behind her. Her eyes looked to the moon with nothing but a bewildered expression that made Yuriko worry._

 _"Father. . . Did I make the right choice?" Her voice sounded to the silent and dark room that only her father could only hear. Yuriko couldn't tell if she's regretting it or just asking for confirmation. He went over to her side and stood there watching the moon shone throughout the night._

 _"I cannot think whether it's right or wrong." Yuriko tried his best to comfort her._

 _"I'm just confused. I wanted to go with them but I didn't want to leave you." Sara felt her eyes water with tears as she was about to cry._

 _"Is that what troubles you Sara?"_

 _The blonde girl didn't speak but it was already in his mind that it was the answer. So even in these years, she still wanted to find her foster parent. He immediately knew that she didn't gave up on her lost parent as the years went by. He was actually worried that she already forgotten about it because it would be sad for him to just let her brush aside a precious moment she had when she was a child before taking her in._

 _And now she is conflicted about whether leaving him or staying with him. He honestly wanted to let her stay but a part of him wanted her to go out and see the world freely without anything weighing her down. But if she leaves, she will be sad of parting with him. Knowing her, they've been together for a long time and it will greatly cost her. Maybe this is really the time where he should help her. After all, he is her father._

 _"Don't you remember what that young man had said?" Yuriko smiled as he reminds her of the words that Natsu left behind for her._

 _"There's no such thing as good or bad decisions. Only your heart tells it to be a good or a bad one." The voice of her father and Natsu entered her thoughts as she widen in realization at the touching statement._

 _"B-But I don't know what to do?"_

 _"Sara. I loved you with all my heart and I only wished nothing but happiness in your heart... No matter what you choose, I'll be always right here supporting you." Yuriko softly spoke as he knelt down to her and pointed his finger in her chest signifying that he will be always in her heart wherever she is._

 _"F-Father.. .." Sara could not help but cry suddenly as she went to embrace her father. Yuriko accepted the hug and stroked her blonde hair gingerly._

 _"My, my. You already grown Sara." He whispered but was enough for her to hear as she continued to cry in his arms._

 _"Listen Sara. Your future had just began. Nurture it and live to the fullest. You will have friends and many more to help you on your obstacles in life. You may also call them as your family too. The time has come for you to move forward Sara."_

 _"B-But what about you?"_

 _"Don't worry Sara. No matter where you are or what you do, you are always my one and only daughter. The same beautiful Sara Hatsumi that I cared the most. Even though, we're far from each other, our hearts reminds us that we're always here for each other. Same goes to your foster dragon who raised you before me._ _"_

 _Yuriko finished as he continued to hug Sara comfortably. He knew that this will the last time he's going to see her daughter but he was prepared for it. He only wished for her future to be a great one. As a parent, he would do anything for her. He also wanted Sara to find her parent that had cared her before him. After all, she wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her foster dragon. The two hugged each other as night continued on the course._

* * *

 ** _Present.. .._**

Sara explained thoroughly as the whole team listened only to have frowned faces visible to each other especially at the two dragonslayers. Natsu and Wendy both understood the most than any other in their team since they basically met her father who was a kind and loving person towards his daughter. For her to depart from her house makes them kind of sad. Sara somehow wore a slight sad expression on her face at the memory of her father bidding her farewell to the household. She was going to miss them.

"So that's what happened?" Erza spoke.

"Yeah. A lot has happened back then. . . . ." Sara spoke as felt a little crestfallen after bringing up a sad memory of parting with her family. She remembered the last time she saw her stepfather waving over to her as a bidding farewell with Henry standing beside his master wearing a the same sad smile as she departed from the house. She had tears streaking down her

"Then let's just replace that sadness with us Sara." Natsu slammed his open fists on the table earning their attention.

"W-What do you mean?" The wind dragonslayer spoke quizzically."

"Your father don;t want you to be hanging on this forever Sara just as I do too so cheer up. We'll make good memories here in Fairy Tail because we're a family and comrades who help each other." Natsu spoke proud that made everyone around him smile in admiration of his simple words.

"Aye!" Happy butted in.

"F-Family. . . Comrade. . . . (Nakama)" Sara trailed off as his words of encouragement washed all her sadness away in an instant.

"Yep. Everyone here in Fairy Tail is family. We care for each other, laugh for each other or even cry for each other. We always look out for each other. That include you Sara. So don't feel sad. With you happy, I'm sure the old man is happy too." Natsu smiled in his toothy grin that made the wind dragonslayer to blush slightly at his words and warmth smile which she promptly hid it from the others.

"T-Thank you N-N-Natsu. . ." She stuttered while trying to bring up thankful words to the pinkette.

"Don't mention it."

"By the way, what team are joining in Sara?" Happy perked up, giving all of the team to look at her with curious eyes.

"T-Team?" Sara asked quizzically.

"Let me explain..." Happy sagely spoke as he stood atop of Natsu's head before clearing his throat with a light cough that made others sweatdrop.

"You see. Here in Fairy Tail, there are some teams that have different capabilities depending on the members magic. For example, Team Shadow Gear has the brains. They specialize in solving riddles or putting problems piece by piece." Happy calmly explained thoroughly as Sara continued to listen with sparkling eyes giving the the team a sweat dripping down on her heads.

"I see now. Thank you Happy." Sara thanked the blue Exceed.

"I got an idea!" Natsu popped up as he eyes beamed in joy and looked at Sara. A few heads tilted at the fire dragonslayer's sudden outburst.

"I hope it's not one of your destructive plans." Lucy brushed off his idea with a swaying hand as she looks away to prevent herself getting involved from him. She generally knew that everything that goes inside his head is nothing but bad things that ended her broke.

"Calm your keys Luigi." Happy who was still atop of his partner's head spoke wisely earning the celestial mage a tick mark.

"I told you I'm not Luigi!" Lucy shouted in irritation as she tried to reach her hands on the Exceed only to fly away a few meters away from her.

Ignoring their bickering, Natsu proceeded on his proposed idea.

"How about you join with our team?" Natsu smiled wide which gave the team a gasp of shock from his suggestion.

"Eh?" Sara quizzically spoke.

"Join us here in Team Natsu. There are lots of things we could do. With your magic, we could do a trio of dragonslayers and become the strongest team." Natsu continued.

"I think it's a good idea." Erza nodded in response.

"Well I don't mind at all as long I could kick the Flame-brain's ass."

"Hey!"

"I agree with Natsu-san. I'm sure we can get to know each other." Wendy smiled.

"Really. Is it okay for me to join?"

"Why wouldn't you be? You're already part of the family. You're always welcome to join." Natsu smiled.

Sara had so much to process right now. With many things happening around her in just a day made her quite shocked and happy at the same time. Joining in Fairy Tail made her heart jump in joy. Meeting so many new people together with Natsu and Wendy also gave her courage to step up to her future. Just like what her father said that her new friends will become her family who will guide and help her from the troubles they will face. She felt that her father's words became true and her regret from her past was immediately destroyed by the warmth smile and comfort of her new friends.

She'll definitely miss her stepfather.

But she won't forget him as she will always remind herself that he is in her heart, believing that one day she will reunite with her foster dragon.

With her happily accepting the invitation to his team, Natsu pumped his fist in the air in delight.

"Yosh! Now we have three dragonslayers in our team."

"Yeah. We can catch as many fish as we want." Happy blurted out, joining his partner's triumph with a different agenda.

"Anyway aside from Happy's devious plan to our team, where are you staying Sara?" Lucy asked the wind dragonslayer curiously.

Upon hearing her question, Sara immediately sweatdrop as her thoughts about her housing wasn't really planned out ever since her departure. She just wanted to join Fairy Tail and see her two friends whom she had just met few days prior. She looked down pouting with her fingers rolling in between as she was unable to come up a way to say about it.

"W-Well. . . . The truth is.. I didn't think about it since coming here in Fairy Tail.." She shyly asked.

"Why didn't you say so? We could've help you find one." Erza spoke in concern.

"We still have some spare rooms in Fairy Hills Erza-san." Wendy proposed urging the redhead to look at her before nodding happily.

"That's right. We still have some spare rooms in the dorm. You could stay there. Plus we girls live there except for Lucy since she has her own apartment. You will have to pay for the rent monthly but we can suspend the rent for one week until you get on your first job tomorrow."

"Job?"

"Well as a mage, we help people who are in need of our powers and they sent out requests in the Request Board which you'll be seeing tomorrow too."

"Oh like a job or something." Sara spoke in realization.

"Hell yeah! We get to beat up some dark guild members or even meeting some strong opponents." Natsu stood from his seat as he began to tell his stories of his past jobs that involve fighting and destroying. Eventually his jobs ended as a complaint from people who are dragged in his fiery destruction. Massive bills of repair and complaints from the Council are sent to Makarov after that which led to his depression of his jewels vanishing from his pockets.

Poor gramps.

"And the battle-loving maniac returns once again." Gray drawled lazily with his clothes unknowingly disappeared once again without his notice.

"Gray. Mind wearing some clothes." Lucy sighed earning the ice mage to gasp in surprise at the the sudden realization.

"Shit!" The ice mage panicked as he stood up and went searching for his clothes with a drooling Juvia who's been watching behind the pillars, dreaming some romantic revelations between her and the ice mage after seeing his muscular body.

"How about we go on a job together as a team tomorrow? It will be also Sara's first job as a Fairy Tail mage?" Natsu suggested.

"I was planning say that." Erza sighed deeply but smiled nonetheless.

"Good idea!" Wendy beamed in joy.

"Aye!"

"Guess I have no choice..." Charle could only smile in the pinkette's decision since it will be a great benefit for their new member.

"Thank you everyone. I'd appreciate it." Sara smiled in joy as she came to open up to her friends happily. The whole group continued to talk more about themselves excluding Gray who was still in the middle of his search for his clothes.

* * *

It was beginning to get late as the sun begins to set in the west giving off an orange light through the skies. It was then the members of Fairy Tail began to go back to their homes. The people of Magnolia was also beginning to return to their homes as the day slowly turns into night. Natsu and Happy stood just infront the guild facing the other girls who were on the different direction. Sara had her parasol folded and placed beside her luggage which was held by her right arm. Wendy and Erza would be accompanying her to Fairy Hills for her temporary stay there. If she had enough money, she can stay or pay in another apartment.

"Guess we'll be seeing each other tomorrow. Have a good night sleep everyone." Natsu spoke calmly.

"Yeah. Sleep well Natsu." Erza returned the reply with a warm smile.

"Thank you Natsu for everything." Sara spoke in gratitude for his kindness ever since she joined in Fairy Tail.

"Don't sweat it. I'm happy to help a friend."

"Aye! That's Natsu for you."

"See you tomorrow Natsu-san." Wendy waved as the duo began to walk back to their home.

"See you around Natsu." Sara followed as she waved at the fire dragonslayer before the figure disappeared as it took a turn into the town.

They watched for a moment as the sun continues to set with a little pitch of darkness covering to the other direction where the sun is signifying that it's beginning to get late.

"Guess I'll be on my way too." Lucy spoke to the three girls with Charle floating beside them.

"See you tomorrow. Lucy-san."

The celestial blonde mage began sprinting to the other direction leaving the three girls and the white Exceed behind.

"Well then, shall we get going too?" Erza spoke to the other two girls who nodded in response. They walked on their path towards the Fairy Hills which is just at the top of some small hill with a gate covering the outside from intruders. The building was three stories tall with each having two wings in its structure. Seeing it was enough to fit some of other guild members inside though it was only limited to girls only.

Opening the door entrance, Erza led the two to the second floor and went to open a spare room that is just next to Wendy's room. The scarlet knight brought out a key from her Requip Magic as it appeared in her hand before inserting it to the door knob. She rotated the key that made an unlocking sound. She opened the door of the room which is filled with basic needs that could satisfy a person.

A well cleaned bed with light green sheets with intricate designs followed by a blanket and two pairs of fluffy pillows soft enough to rest one's head in peace. The floor was covered in ceramic tiles with two closets and a desk for her work if she needed one. There's also a window just beside the desk and at the bed which can be gaze upon to the bustling town. It's pretty much a scenery since the dorm stood a top of a hill.

"Here's your room Sara. You may able to get used to it and Wendy is just next to you. If you have enough money from your jobs, I think you'll do just fine." Erza spoke before handing out her keys for the room which made the wind dragonslayer to bow in gratitude.

"Thank you Erza-san."

"Don't mention it. And if you have any problems, you can talk to everyone here about it. Dinner will start at 7:30 so be on time."

"Yes."

After discussing for her temporary housing, Erza went downstairs to her room leaving the two dragonslayers by themselves.

"I'll be going into my room now. If you have anything to ask Sara-san, just talk to me. We're friends after all." Wendy smiled.

"Sure Wendy-san."

"Okay we'll be back quickly to help you settle down your things." Charle suggested.

"It's warm isn't it?" The wind dragonslayer muttered that is also heard by Wendy before turning her attention back to the wind dragonslayer leaving Charle behind as she went on to their room to change.

"What so you mean?"

"You, Erza-san, Lucy-san, Natsu-san and everyone in Fairy Tail. They're all warm. Your actions and care for me is so warm and comfortable."

"Well I just learned everything from Natsu-san." Wendy smiled with her cheeks slightly tinted pink at the statement.

"It seems like Natsu is an important person to you?"

"Yes. He's also the reason I came to the guild. He always thinks of us as his comrades and family and if it wasn't for him, I don't know where I'd be now." Wendy's words trailed off as her memories of the past years she first join Fairy Tail gave her a sense of nostalgia creeping through her mind.

"I see. I think for some reason that he also saved me too." She whispered silently with her cheeks shaded red without the knowledge of the bluenette.

"Did you say something Sara-san?"

"Nothing. Mind helping me settle down my things in this room?"

"Of course." The sky dragonslayer smiled and proceeded to help her new friend inside the room settleing her things from her luggage while Charle was silently watching outside the door smiling at Wendy.

"Good for you Wendy."

The dragonslayer smiled as they helped each other with Charle sorting out her clothes. The three continued their work as the night descends through the day until the scarlet knight called them downstairs for dinner. Wendy and Charle were informed and began to walk downstairs.

"You coming Sara-san?"

"Just a little bit." She called out from her room as she took out a picture frame from her luggage and began to stare at it in deep thought. IT was the picture of her and Yuriko when she was just child. Her little version sat above the shoulders of her father as they ran with their happy faces around the fountain outside their mansion. She closed her eyes for a second as she held the picture affectionately before standing up and putting it on a nearby nightstand and proceed outside of her room to catch up to the waiting dragonslayer.

 _'Your future has started Sara. . . .'_

* * *

 **A/N: And stop! Chapter 4 ends with our new member of Fairy Tail starting out her new life with new friends.**

 **Now, what are your thoughts about the story? Did you like it so far in it's early chapters? If so, leave a review on the story or even fav or follow it too. :) I appreciated it.**

 **See ya guys on the next chapter.. PEACE! - V (^_^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	5. The Team Embarks on a Journey

**A/N: Yow guys back with another chapter.. I would try to hasten my update to lessen the wait.**

 **Nothing much happen while creating this chapter. Just had a little help from other readers who share their ideas to improve my story :)**

 **Here's chapter 5 everyone!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters. All goes to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 **\- The Team Embarks on a Journey -**

Sara slowly open her eyes as she wearily adjust the surroundings of her room. It was her first night and also her first time having girly talks about last night. With Erza and Levy seemingly the leading group last night of their discussion, a lot has happened within Fairy Hills that some of them ended up laughing, squealing and probably embarrassed at the their topic and everyone had a good time with each other except Charle who was silently watching to the corner of the room last night.

But all in all, it was a great experience for her and she made lots of great moments with the others especially with Wendy.

Her room was full of her things with some laid down to the floor due to incomplete sorting last night because of the home welcoming party for her by the tenants inside. Her clothes were already in the closet and some of her stuffs like books and pouches laid down on the floor with her luggage left open.

She might want to do a clean-up later on.

Lifting over the blanket to the side and sat up straight before rubbing her eyes with her hands to shake off the remaining drowsy feeling inside her, Sara made a yawn while stretching out her arms to refresh her body from her sleep. Her hair was messy with tiny bits of her hair strands curling upwards.

The sunlight penetrated her window beside her bed and shone behind her back that gave a warm feeling as the it rises up just behind the mountains from the east.

She turned around and opened the windows giving off fresh air from the outside world to the inside room.

'Ah, What a wonderful morning..'

The sounds of the birds chirping from their nests in trees rang into her ears as they bathe warmly at the radiant sun. The day is still early so they have so much time.

The world before her was so beautiful as the sky was lightened by the yellow light that revealed beautiful clouds above ranging from different shapes and sizes. She was quite lucky to have the room at this angle so she could take a glimpse of the sun clearly and watch the beautiful scenery of Magnolia itself. She smiled at the glimpse of the town and thought about it as her new home from now on.

Of course, she would still treasure her old home. She would always remember the people who took her in, showing her their love and care in the years of her loneliness.

Sara placed her hands just at the windowsill and leaned her head down at the window, seeing Erza talking to someone by the door which she couldn't find out who before setting off to the guild. She was quite surprised that the scarlet knight was already up and ready to go. As expected of the great Titania, she was very punctual at almost everything. She saw her multiple times in the Sorceress Weekly magazine and from what the articles said about her are mostly true. She was a S-Class mage after all, probably one of the strongest people in the guild aside from Natsu.

Speaking of her guild she looked around the scenery and immediately spotted the guild which she recently joined in. Furthermore, Sara let out a soft smile from her face as she remembered something important and began to run straight to a mirror and fix herself.

Yes, it is her first job as a Fairy Tail mage.

Quickly brushing her hair to fix her loose strands, she hurriedly paced around each corner of the room from her closet to her drawers to fix herself. She opened her closet and found a set of different clothes from different occasions. She was in her green pajamas with small green hearts designed all over it and wore a pair of indoor slippers.

Pondering her thoughts of which she's going to wear, Sara placed her finger just at her chin while she tried to choose between her clothes. One clothing caught her attention as she pulled it out from it hanger. A simple red dress with designs reaching down to its skirt that lined at her knees. Like most of her other clothing she had skirts that reach down to her feet making almost everyone assume that she wears like a mistress (ojou-sama). That's too be expected as she came from a wealthy family or rather adopted by the owner.

She was taught how to be polite and kind towards others even though being an adopted daughter of the Hatsumi household. Her elegance and beauty also made other wealthy families to propose an engagement between heirs much to her dismay. Thankfully, Yuriko cares about her daughter's feelings and spoke in place for her of cancelling engagements. Sara wanted to be the person to love someone wholly instead of having a forced marriage.

But she is not a mistress anymore. Here in Magnolia, she's a Fairy Tail mage with friends who she can have fun with.

"Yosh. Time to get my first job!" Sara beamed as she finished herself. She caught glimpse of the white ribbon on her bed and grabbed it, tying it at the back of her hair where the rest of it are swayed down like silk aside from her two ringlets that is left dangling infront of her shoulders.

Sprinting herself downstairs, she saw a sleepy Levy who emerged from her room whilst rubbing her eyes upon waking up.

"Morning Levy!"

"Morning Sara-chan..." The bookworm could only reply lazily as she doesn't have the strength to be as cheerful as she can be because of her sleepiness in the early morning.

"I'm quite in a hurry so I'll meet you down at the guild." Sara beamed happily giving an approving nod from the bookworm.

She continued to the door and open it and proceeded her way down to the guild.

Levy walked towards the open door and watched her new friend makes her way to the guild with a happy expression on her face. She must be really excited for today. Well that's great for her. It may take time for her to get used to the guild but her new family will help her fit right in.

"Was that Sara-san just now?" A voice emanated from the stairs revealing Wendy who was in her nightwear. She was woken up by the sounds of footsteps earlier and decided to take a look. Levy smiled and nodded at the sky dragonslayer.

"Yup. She just left towards the guild."

"But why is she such in a hurry?"

"Why it's because it's her first job here in Fairy Tail.." Levy giggled that made the bluenette widen her eyes in realization. She totally forgot that it was Sara's first job. She was completely occupied last night because they had so much fun together with other girls last night and was completely out of it.

"Hoh! I completely forgot about it!" Wendy panicked as she went back upstairs and entered to her room in a flash. Hearing the sound of her footsteps running the hallway above, Levy sighed at her clumsiness.

She somehow guessed that the dragonslayer is coming along with Sara assuming that she will be in her company at the job. She looked out to the door and saw the morning dew just at the mountain ranges outside Magnolia. It's already morning and she too must get herself ready before heading down to the guild. She just found a new set of released novels from a nearby bookstore that are mostly in romantic genres. She was hoping to read it all down at the library later if she could spare some time.

She must be careful in keeping the books to herself. If she showed these to Erza, it would probably take years for her to return it if she borrowed it.

The scarlet knight had more taste in these kinds of books than her. For Levy, she just reads them for fun and excitement while the mighty Titania would take every reading too seriously. One day she found her reading one of those romantic novels and she could clearly see how flustered the knight was and her mind was full of situations given from the book which she didn't want to know on a certain extent. She kept her delusional imaginations at a certain level where she can stay normal as she can be.

Setting aside her thoughts about her friend, she returned to her room and prepared everything she needs to fix herself before heading down to the guild.

'Guess I need to get going soon.'

* * *

Sara jogged her way through the road in a steady pace. She could see some people waving at her seeing them as friendly folks. People in Magnolia are as kindhearted and simple as they are.

Aside from the other towns she previously visited, it was her first time seeing townfolks giving off a friendly atmosphere between them even though they're strangers. They don't seem to suspect almost everyone as being dangerous or sorts as they can tell the goodness of the person inside. It almost like they're never bothered by it.

What a wonderful town. The peacefulness and the simplicity of the people working around here somehow gives anyone a good sensation.

The wind dragonslayer returned the favor and let out a cheerful smile as she turned around her gaze to the people she went past by while jogging forward.

'I'm starting to like this town..' Sara inwardly giggled at her thoughts as she went on her way. Who would ever dislike a town that is full of good people? That's just plain stupid if they did. Having yourself live in such a place is more than you could ask for. What's more is that a similar group of people on a certain guild shared the same nature as these people do. The ones who would never leave their own family behind and would always face their problems together as one family.

Sara softly placed her hand to her chest as a surge of warmth and joy overwhelmed her.

'I've never been so happy before in my entire life...'

It was like that time she spent with her dragon Zephyria teaching her the ways about being a dragonslayer. Other than that, she also taught her about family and friendship which she was able to carry out throughout her life until to Yuriko.

And now, her desire to see her precious foster dragon grew once more. It may take a long time for her to get back on her knees but with the help of her fellow friends, she believes that she would one day reunite with her together with the other dragonslayers.

She stopped briefly on her tracks as she began to ponder over her foster dragon.

'I wonder what she's doing right now.' Sara asked herself as she looked through the endless sky above her, thinking about Zephyria. The warm breeze of the wind blew softly infront of her, swaying her hair gracefully as she closed her eyes to feel the sensation.

Eventually, she caught sight of the obnoxious building in front of her view. It was surrounded by a gate and a bell is seen at the top of it. An insignia lay on the front of the building that somehow made her warm inside. A new home and a new family she could spend her life from now on.

Fairy Tail.

She's still unable to get used to it since a lot has happened yesterday starting from her arrival at the guild. The guild she just recently joined, is famous for its brawls and fights. Not to mention the destructive nature in each of the members there. Well mostly probably pitted only into one person. Sara could only sweatdrop at the thought of that one person she could generally assume just by knowing them by heart.

Natsu.

For sure, she saw him as a very strong person but the way he does things are completely off the scale. The level of destruction he caused in their joint fight a few days ago was proof of that. Not that she was amazed or shocked like that. It was more like a blank expression that she could only give to him at that time.

I wonder how Wendy and the others manage to get a hold of him until now.

Well it can't helped since it's Natsu alright.

Walking towards the door, she stopped infront of it and tried to breathe deeply to keep herself calm as possible. She doesn't know what to expect after she opens the door. Will the boys line up to her again? Or unknowingly interrupt an ongoing fight between members. Her head's starting to get sweaty from the tense atmosphere she's giving. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she focused herself at the huge door infront of her.

Well just open the goddamn door to find out.

'Okay... Here goes..' She exhaled as she tries to push the door.

But before she could open the door, she let out a jolt of surprise as she heard a loud thud inside. Moments sooner, the door bursts open for her revealing a running Natsu who was looking like he was desperate to get out of the guild as possible. Something like that would really kill him if he didn't get away from the guild. Another person came from the door letting out an enraged aura around her body with a dark look focused only at the fire dragonslayer. A sword was seen in her right hand pointing towards Natsu and Sara immediately knew who the person was as she saw her scarlet hair swaying gracefully at her back.

It was Erza

"Come back here Natsu. You're gonna take responsibility for what you've done." Erza spoke in a menacing tone that further increased the fire dragonslayer's urge to stay away from the dangerous woman.

Sara stood there dumbfounded. What are they doing at this time of the day? Knowing Natsu, he must've done something bad to anger the mighty Titania.

"Come on. It was an accident. Gray pushed me hard and he did it purposely. Why won't you believe me?"

"I know what happened. But I can't forgive anyone who messes my strawberry cake!"

Sara widened her eyes in surprise enough to look like white plate dishes. So that's just the reason?! Sara barely knew the scarlet knight but the way she gets worked up over some spilled cake surprised her for real.

Nope. She might not wanna say that infront of the Titania ever.

"Erza, if you could just listen-"

"No excuses. Get ready Natsu." Erza seemingly prepares her weapon aimed at Natsu.

"Good morning Natsu-kun... Good morning Erza-san..." Sara greeted the two since she was bothered to let this go any further. The two said mages turned to the source of the voice revealing the wind dragonslayer. They stopped their argument and focused at the blonde-haired dragonslayer who was coming over to them.

"Oh! Morning Sara. I didn't notice you."

"Sorry for showing such a rude behavior from the both of us. If you may, you can hit me to compensate for my rude actions." Erza formally apologized before bowing down hoping for a punishment. Sara could only sweatdrop at the scarlet knight action shown before her.

"Um... You don't need to. I've seen enough."

Erza and Natsu could only look at each other with unsure looks. That's when Natsu remembered something involving her.

"By the way, are you ready for your first job? There are lots of interesting jobs today."

"Yup. I'm ready. I just need a little help so...um.. Do you mind helping me with that Natsu-kun?" Sara looked sideways as her face was flustered having herself embarrassed to ask them for help. However, her actions didn't go unnoticed by the Titania who narrowed her eyes closely at the wind dragonslayer. Meanwhile, Natsu simply grinned widely at Sara.

"Sure... I can help you with that."

"Oi... Natsu don't decide things for yourself."

"Let's call it off for today Erza. I'm really sorry for spilling your cake. I'll buy you another one, I promise." Natsu clapped his hands together in a apologetic way before bowing his head towards the scarlet knight.

"But-." The scarlet knight stopped halfway as she caught the his words. Did he just say he'll buy her a cake? That's was totally unexpected for her. Natsu would never buy something for anyone even though it's just a compensation.

Did something hit the fire dragonslayer's head real hard?

Not that she's concern about about it. It's just probably because he doesn't want to face her full wrath when being messed around with her cake. That would be a hell breaking loose.

"Come on Erza. It's for Sara's sake as well." The said mage slightly blushed.

Erza shrugged her ironclad arms and return back to her usual stern facade and eyed the two.

"Okay Natsu. I'll let you off the hook but don't forget about your promise." Erza spoke calmly. If the people of the guild witnessed her doing this to Natsu, they would be utterly shocked. Erza never once had forgiven someone who destroyed her favorite strawberry cake, may it be an accident or not. With her letting off Natsu from her impending fury, it was a big difference.

She supposes the guild doesn't need another heart-breaking shocks after what happened yesterday with the new member. Misundertandings are common in Fairy Tail since there are people who would really take things in the wrong way, her included. What's more is that there are some who would really confuse people by adding fuel in it and the rest follows with her ending things in her own to avoid more trouble.

After the whole predicament between the two, Erza thought something and began to ask the wind dragonslayer.

"Sara."

"Yes Erza-san?"

"Since it's your first job, we need you to choose a job request in the Request Board."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention you where it is." Natsu butted in.

"It's just inside at the front. We can show you where it is." Erza spoke.

Sara simply nodded and thanked the two mages. She was quite nervous about the job since it's her first time. Having them to guide her should help her somehow to get more proper awareness of mages in jobs. As they spoke about their discussion with Sara's job request, A familiar female voice sounded behind them revealing Wendy waving her hands in the distance with Charle floating beside her.

"Sara-san!" Wendy called out upon seeing the wind dragonslayer from her eyes. She seems to be in a hurry too.

"Wendy.. and Charle too." The three spoke unison and smiled at the arrival of their friend. Great timing, Wendy could also help the two in Sara's first job.

"Yo! Wendy!" Natsu made his signature toothy grin at the sky dragonslayer.

"Good morning Natsu-san."

"I was forced to tag along since Wendy wanted more company." Charle let out a sigh before smiling afterwards. I mean, how could she turn down her best friend's offer? Well as long as she can be happy with it then she'll accept it.

"Good thing you came Wendy. We're just talking about Sara's job."

"Yup. I was on my way here with Charle to help her. After all, she's on the team." Wendy beamed brightly at her friends. Sara could only force a smile towards at the sky dragonslayer.

"Well let's go inside guys. I'm aching for another fight inside with the stripper." Natsu clashed his fist together before setting off before them and slammed the door open and shouted at his rival.

He's so very eager to join the fray once again.

The three girls waited for a few moments before going inside.

"Come on Sara." The two other girls beckoned the wind dragonslayer inside.

* * *

The guild inside was normal as usual. Well if you could call how normal it is to fight with each other that ended up dipping down faces on water and having table turned up once again, you could say it's pretty normal for Fairy Tail. The three went dumbfounded at the shocking sight. It's just too shocking for Sara to say for herself that these people don't tire from their brawl. She was pretty sure she saw Natsu in between those faces on the ongoing brawl.

Really? How did he even involve himself with them that fast?

For some reason, Erza didn't even bother herself stopping it any moment. She had no reason to. She was tired in doing the whole work in keeping the peace inside. What peace? There was never peace inside Fairy Tail. It's all but an endless cycle of war between members with nonsensical provocation thrown at each other. What's more there's two certain mages who are the very core of it all. I think everyone should know now.

"Let's just walk to the Request Board." Erza suggested getting a quick nod from the two with the Exceed.

"Y-Yeah."

The three walked the aisle of the guild and went infront seeing the board before them. They could just leave the whole fight behind them since the only important thing is Sara's benefit.

Seconds later, they made it to the board with lots of request papers from different clients in different locations in Fiore. Ranging from retrieval quests to dark mage hunting quests, Sara paced around back and forth looking closely at each paper stuck on the board. The two waited just behind her, giving her enough time to choose something. But it seems like there are lots to opportunities for her to choose and that made it hard for her to decide at one point.

"Hmmmmmm..." Sara hummed in thought as she paced back and forth at the Request Board hoping to see more interesting jobs that could really suit her.

I never thought picking job requests is this hard.

"Having trouble picking one?" A familiar asked sincerely prompting the trio to look around and saw Mirajane in her usual barmaid outfit.

"Mira-san!"

The demon barmaid walked over to them as the fight behind her continued. It seems like they're the only people with sane thoughts.

"You were choosing one of them right?" She presume seeing them beside the board.

"Yes. But I can't seemed to find the exact one for me."

"I can help you with that." Mirajane smiled softly.

"Thank you Mira-san... You're so very kind."

"I'm always here to people especially when they're new. I want them to fit right in with the family."

Family huh? That's right. Fairy Tail isn't just some ordinary guild that only cared about fame and money. It is a guild where people share bonds of family and friendship. The place where you create memorable memories with your friends. They help you, never leave you or even fight for you. There's just a lot of feelings wrapped up in the guild itself like it was sheltering them with warmth.

Erza, Wendy and Charle just smiled at the former S-Class mage who shared such kindness.

That's Mira for you. She's always good at helping new members.

"Sooooo now... what kind of magic do you use? I forgot to mention it back then when I was putting your guild mark." Mirajane asked the blonde mage curiously as she looked away from the board and went back to Sara.

"Dragonslayer Magic. Wind Dragonslayer Magic." Sara elaborated her type of magic slightly surprising Mira.

"Hoh. Just like Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel and wind type too. So are your magic similar that of Wendy's?" Erza and Wendy together Charle joined in to listen the conversation. They never had knowledge about Sara's magic. It's just the name of the magic was mentioned yesterday by Wendy herself.

"More or less. We can heal others with our magic."

"What makes it different to Wendy's Sky Dragonslayer Magic?"

"Wendy has support spells on her own while I only use my magic for offensive capabilities."

"Ah! So you're like Natsu." Sara nodded halfheartedly. She's not as destructive as the fire-breathing idiot.

"Okay! I think I know what kind of job you need for your first job." She motioned herself towards the request board and plucked off a paper from one of the paper request. She walked back to Sara and handed her the job which the latter had accepted and read the contents.

"Hmmm... Thieves? Am I suppose to catch thieves."

"Yup. Since you're already in Team Natsu, I thought it high time for you to learn coordination and teamwork between them. I'm sure you witnessed how Natsu and Wendy fight during your first meeting with them right?"

Wow! Mirajane surely knows how to think ahead of things.

"I guess."

"Then I suggest you take this. It's gonna be fun and you can learn a lot of things between them."

"And also don't forget to make memories." She added.

Sara looked back at the paper in her hands for a moment before facing back to Mira with a new resolve.

"Okay. I'll take it." A smile crept out of Mira's lips as the wind dragonslayer handed out the paper back to her for approval. The barmaid went back to the bar counter and tried to sign the paper request chosen by Sara.

The three waited until Sara felt a pat her shoulder.

"It wasn't that hard right?" Erza spoke softly.

"Yeah. I got help from you guys."

"I'll go fetch Natsu and the others. Let's meet up outside." Erza proposed before looking back at Wendy and her Exceed. "Would you accompany Sara for awhile?"

"Of course." Wendy immediately spoke before earning a slight nod at the redhead before moving towards the fray.

Wendy motioned herself beside the wind dragonslayer with Charle in tow.

"It's fun here... in Fairy Tail.." Sara muttered out in a blue.

"Yes it is... Let's do our best Sara-san."

"Hai!"

* * *

 _ **Outside the guild doors...**_

Team Natsu in addition with Sara and the two Exceeds stood ready as they were about to depart from the guild. Some of the guild members such as the Strauss siblings stood by the door bidding safe travels at them but most of the people are boys who were showing great concern at the new member.

As you can see... Boys...

"Bye everyone! Good luck Sara." Lisanna waved to the fading group as they walked towards the train station. Oh I hope Natsu's gonna be alright. Oh wait. He has Wendy to help her with that.

Seeing them finally disappeared into distance, Lisanna held back her hand and looked at Mirajane who was solemnly watching from where the team disappeared to. Her happy expression later was instantly replaced with blank expression. It's like she's very crestfallen.

"What are you gonna do Mira-nee? You know you shouldn't take this any longer. I'm quite worried about you now. Your problem is getting out of hand."

"It's okay Lisanna. I can just wait until he's free."

"How about you ask the other boys? I mean, they're all kind very willing to help." Lisanna suggested but was easily brushed off by Mira.

"The boys would be more grateful in their dreams and would brag about it instead of helping me if I tell them my problem. Natsu's the only one."

"I suppose so. Natsu is such an idiot." Lisanna giggled.

"Yes he is..." The barmaid's words trailed off as she thought about the fire dragonslayer.

"Well you can ask him about your problem when they come back. I wish I could help."

"It's fine Lisanna. You don't need worry about me. What I am worried about is you." Mirajane looked back at her sister with concerned eyes.

"What about me?"

"Well- I mean... Is it okay for you?" Lisanna immediately understood what she meant and simply smiled at the older sister. Seeing her smile like that confused the barmaid.

"I'm not like that. I'm not angry about Natsu talking to other girls like that. We're childhood friends. Besides, this is a special request to help you solve your problem right?" Lisanna explained giving Mirajane a slight relief in her chest. She have known the two since kids and they're very close.

"But doesn't mean I'm gonna give up on him." Those words rang inside the barmaid ears clearly that made her quite surprised at her statement.

"W-What do you mean? You make it sound like I like him. I'm not into romance right now. Besides, I knew you already liked him." Mirajane frantically shove off her claim on being on the same boat as her little sister. But something stung her chest at her denial. What am I doing?

"I know... so I want you to support me Mira-nee." Then another feeling of pain struck her chest hard at those words.

"S-Sure..." a simple forced reply came out from the demon mage's mouth.

But as they're about to get finished about their discussion, the sounds of the guild erupting into another brawl crawled outside the guild.

"Oh. They're going at it again. I'll go on ahead Mira-nee. I'll help with the dishes."

"Sure. I'll be there shortly." Mirajane smiled bitterly.

Soon afterwards, Lisanna went back to the guild leaving Mirajane alone outside. Why did I say that? Why she wasn't able to answer her real thoughts? She held her chest with her hands and looked through the horizon. Her thoughts were clouded with doubt and uncertainty. The words of Lisanna brought upon to her still rang her ears like it was deeply carved through her memories.

Support her...

Somehow, Mirajane could feel the guilt creeping into her heart at those words. What am I going to do now?

* * *

 _ **Inside the train...**_

Natsu died... temporarily as his depraved body was slumped into a corner with Erza beside her making sure he's doing okay. Not that he's really okay at the moment as his all-time enemy overwhelmed his will.

Motion Sickness...

Unfortunately, Erza took the role in taking care of him the rest of the trip while on the train and Wendy could not help him with her Troia. So Natsu has to deal with it. Happy was beside him, encouraging him to fight back the sickness.

"Pathetic as he is." Gray smirked as he saw the poor state his rival was in. He didn't show any pity at him at all. Cold...

"Do you think he's gonna be alright? Sara asked worriedly at her fellow dragonslayer.

"It happens when he rode on any kind of transportation. It's most common for all dragonslayers since they can't really handle transportation." Lucy explained thoroughly giving the wind dragonslayer an understanding of his situation.

"But I was surprised that you aren't affected like Natsu does considering that you're a dragonslayer." Lucy added.

"Oh that. Zephyria once told me that female dragons doesn't have motion sickness." Well that would explained why she and Wendy didn't suffer like the other male dragonslayers.

"N-N-No way... W-Why? Igneel?" Natsu somehow managed to speak out of protest to his foster father about not telling him about this. Curse you Igneel! You good-for-nothing dragon of mine. You should've found a way to cure my sickness. Damn it!

The rest of the group sweatdropped at him.

"That's okay Natsu. You're the strongest dragonslayer out there." Happy blurted out proudly of his partner.

"Yeah and the most idiotic person in Fiore with his trusty stupid cat." Lucy replied.

"You're mean."

"Gee thanks."

Having their flow of conversation run only about Sara and the dragonslayers, Erza thought about changing the topic about the mission.

"So about the job you took in consideration from Mira, it doesn't look like they're just a bunch of thieves. The paper mentioned about their entire clan terrorizing a town nearby. Raiding them at night where most of the townspeople are asleep."

"There isn't any good in there is it?" Gray slightly frowned. Those thieves raiding defenseless towns these days are mostly often. Even with Council around, these guys had a knack of showing themselves superior to innocent people. Great job in picking the request Sara. I could use some warm-up in this.

"It's a miracle that this paper was sent to the guild without any problems. If the thieves manages to find out someone from the town sending help from guilds, they would've left the town in flames." Erza continued.

"Does it have any guards or something that could keep them safe?" Wendy asked curiously. Too bad Natsu wasn't able to join the conversation. It seemed fun but serious most of the time.

"It's only a open town. Unlike Magnolia, it neither has a guild nor guards to protect them. Majority of them are normal people and I think these thieves have some magic users among them."

"So are we just gonna get rid of them?" Sara perked up.

"Exactly. And you must remember, they have numbers. Going in alone will be suicidal."

"Good point."

"W-WENDY!" Natsu squeaked as his nausea is slowly overtaking him. All heads turned to the paled dragonslayer with his hands covering his mouth. Poor Natsu. Gray laughed at his current state which soon afterwards was dealt with a steel punch from the redhead sending him off to sleep. Sara and Lucy could only watch in amusement at the dragonslayer. He's not gonna make it. Another reason why this makes his character look ridiculous in front of others. And again, poor Natsu.

"Erza-san. May I?"

"Okay Wendy. I'm starting to see his sickness is getting worse."

"That's because he's Natsu!" Happy cheered as Wendy held out her hands in front of the dizzy pinkette to cast her spell. Thank the dragons, Wendy came into their guild otherwise he would be crawling on the floor fearing every ride he was on.

After the spell was applied onto him, he felt better at least for now.

"Thanks Wendy..." Natsu grinned at the bluenette who was now sitting beside his right. With Erza at his left, he looked to the other side which consisted of Lucy, Sara and Gray who was still knocked out cold from the solid punch. He deserved it though. Didn't he forget about Erza being here?

Meanwhile, Happy was resting above his partner's head and Charle was at Wendy's lap. It seems like both Exceeds are quite attached to their respective dragonslayers.

"It's still a long way towards the town right?" Natsu asked.

"Yep. We may reach our destination around 4 hours." Sara stated.

"That's quite long. I'd rather walk."

"Don't be an idiot. We're a team so we stick together." Erza interjected.

"Fine..." Natsu replied lazily. She do have a good point. Friends should stick together whereas his team must stick together no matter what happens.

"There's a lot to do inside the train so why don't we try something?" Lucy spoke.

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Anything just to kill time."

"How about an eating contest?" Happy suggested. You can see his eyes glittering from that simple suggestion. And one word only came into his mind. 'FISH'

"I'm quite full to eat thanks to Mira." Natsu dismissed his Exceed's suggestion. He sighed in depression of having himself sit around for 4 hours with nothing to do but sit. It's only just a matter of time before Wendy's spell wear off from him. Stupid body.

The entire group went quiet as the sound of the train tracks filled the atmosphere. Wendy and Charle were watching by the window, Erza was reading, Sara and Lucy were discussing something and Gray is still unconscious. Natsu had nothing to do but watch his teammates. He couldn't call out his buddy as he saw him practically sleeping above his head. It seems the little guy was tired. I wonder why...

Natsu took hold of his little pal gently with his two arms and placed him to his lap like Wendy and Charle. It was not long before he heard his light snore. It looks like he slept easily. How I envy you Happy. I wish I could sleep like that. He slowly motioned him closer to him so that he could rest and use his stomach for support. Then again, Natsu sighed once again unable to do anything at this rate.

"What's wrong Natsu-san?" Wendy asked worriedly having interrupted his train of thought.

"Nothing's wrong."

"It's your second sigh of the day and I'm quite surprised that you sighed despite your energy."

"Have you been counting?"

"You could say that but I've seen you doing it. What's wrong?"

"Just...bored I guess... That town must be very far."

"Yep."

Natsu smiled before looking at her Exceed who was surprisingly asleep as well like Happy.

"Charle's asleep?" Wendy nodded before gently patting her Exceed head affectionately.

"She didn't slept well last night."

"Well I hope she could rest enough. It's pretty bad if she didn't get enough sleep. Happy would be worried."

"Thank you Natsu-san. I'll remind that to Charle later." Wendy giggled upon mentioning the blue Exceed. She's sure that it will happen though. Happy has shown great care towards his fellow Exceed despite his childish behavior.

Not before long, his sickness kicked back in assuming that the spell wore off again. Natsu's face paled once again as he tried to do his best to hold it in. Damn, why so soon?

But he felt his sickness instantly disappeared and saw Wendy applying him the same spell. Oh thank you Wendy! You're my savior.

"Gee thanks Wendy. I really want to learn that magic from you."

"You do know that you can't because it's only from Grandeeney."

Natsu could only scratch his head in realization. He seemed to have forgotten all about it. But aside from their magic, Natsu slightly frowned after mentioning their parents. This feeling again huh?

Wendy noticed this and looked through his eyes seeing him suddenly changing his mood.

"What's wrong?"

"I missed him." Wendy widen her eyes in realization. That's right. Even though they're happy with their current lives together with the guild, they could still feel loneliness in their heart. Their foster dragons who took care of them while they're still infants disappeared without a trace. They didn't even said their goodbyes to them. Wendy averted her eyes from the fire dragonslayer and shook her head staring down in space with confused thoughts about their parents.

"I wonder what they're doing right now?" Natsu blurted out.

"I...I don't know.." Wendy hesitated as she could not find the right words to say between them.

"I guess it's fine for now. I still believe that they're out there watching over us. Same goes for Sara too." Natsu tried to smile despite what happened between him and his father. He's sure that he had good reason to disappear on him like that. Maybe one day, he will be able to reunite with him and make him spill the beans.

Yup he's gonna do just that.

"Natsu..." Wendy trailed off her words as she looked at the fire dragonslayer. That's right. Grandeeney and the others didn't left them. They're out there watching over them.

"I'll believe on what you said Natsu-san."

"Don't worry. We dragonslayers must stick together right?" Natsu spoke courageously.

"Yes. Natsu-san." Wendy beamed.

"Oi... What are you two talking about? Since when did you become so close with Wendy Flame-brain?" Gray scoffed having to see his rival getting worked up over their conversation.

"Shut up Ice-prick. This has nothing to do with you! Stripper!" Natsu retorted with two insults that made Gray form a twitch in his brows. That hit the spot.

The rest of the group laughed from their heated exchange with a flustered Wendy among them. This is going to take for awhile is it? The team now began to have fun as Natsu and Gray started. The day before them had just started.

* * *

 _ **At the train station...**_

"Haaahhhh! Freedom!" Natsu shouted in glee as he finally got out of the train. Finally free of his sickness. Wendy and the others sweatdropped at his actions.

"Damn. I was hoping for you to suffer more." Gray hissed as he crossed his arms while looking away coolly. But his coolness sudden went down when Lucy reminded him of his clothes which left him panicked and tried to search for it.

Lucy could only sigh at the two rivals. Honestly, why did those two always cause so much trouble? Good thing Sara didn't happen to see Gray stripping involuntarily in front of her. She still doesn't know much about his habits so she gotta make sure she makes her calm at all times.

"According to the map, the town is a few more hundred meters away from here." Erza stated as she held onto the locations of the town all over Fiore in her hands.

"What are we waiting for? Come on. I'm getting fired up."

"Aye!"

"Wait a minute Natsu. You do know this is Sara's first job so don't go around making trouble to the townsfolk or even destroy anything. Sara's reward would be compensated in your actions." The Titania warned earning him a quick nod.

"I can see why..." Sara agreed before giggling at the fire dragonslayer that left him hanging with question marks over his head.

The blonde dragonslayer jogged a few steps before them as she motioned them to catch to her.

"Come on guys!" She called out before sprinting in a steady pace.

"Oi wait up Sara! Let's go Happy!" Natsu also started sprinting together with his Exceed companion flying beside to catch up to the wind dragonslayer.

"Aye sir!"

"Natsu-san!" Wendy called out before joining herself in the chase. Charle sighed. What a great team she's in.

"So am I suppose to go with the flow?" Lucy spoke as she can see her teammates running off with Sara in the lead. Ah Fine! I'll go...

"Oi I'm not gonna lose to you in a footrace Flame-shit!" Gray followed before taking off his recently-found clothes leaving him again in his trousers before taking off with the running group. Really? A competition at this situation?

"Everyone!" Erza could only sigh at her team's antics but she smiled as she could the happy smiles written over their faces. Guess I gotta catch to them.

And with that, Erza set off as she requipped all her overloaded luggage into her magic inventory making them disappear into her inventory. I don't know how this job will turn out but I think it's gonna be fun.

The entire group led by Sara continued to sprint towards the open road. The wind blew throughout the field feeling the soothe touch of it through their skins and the sounds of the grass added beauty to the pleasant atmosphere between them. It seems this is one of the memories mentioned by Mira. She's glad she was able to make memories with them.

* * *

 **A/N: And stop. Chapter 5 stops here. Next chapter would be the events on the town with Team Natsu dealing thieves or probably an entire clan of them. Look forward to it. :)**

 **So. Did you like the story? Leave it a fav. or even follow it. And also, your thoughts about the story. Don't forget to leave a review. It's common courtesy. :)**

 **See you guys next chapter. Stay awesome. PEACE - V (^_^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...+**


	6. Meeting the Client

**A/N: Heya everyone! wiErD here. Back again with another chapter. Hope ya like it :)**

 **Just putted up another announcement at the end of this chapter. Be sure to read it afterward.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters... (How many times did I say that?) All goes to Hiro Mashima. Just OCs.**

* * *

 **\- Meeting the Client -**

The team continued their path towards the village. Natsu was ahead of the team with Happy sitting at his right shoulder, eating his fish as usual. Sara, Wendy and Charle were just a few feet behind the two talking about each other. In the past few days, Sara already had Wendy as her best friend which was good for her. She needed someone whom she could put her trust into and have fun too. Coming further behind the three was Lucy and Gray with the latter having both his hands cupped into his trousers.

He was bored really. He'd just tagged along because he was forced to as he was a part of his team. He couldn't just let it go like that. Plus, coming along with them gives him the opportunity to escape from a certain water mage.

Yup, it's a lot more better to come than having yourself stalked and probably pulled into one of her planned schemes.

The last on the group was Erza with her 'overloaded' things as usual. Sara knew that it is good to be prepared but it's way too much prepared for her. It's not like it's gonna rain strawberry cakes all over Fiore is it?

The large luggage was pulled with her left hand while the other hand was holding the small paper of their request. Sara had to entrust her with the paper request since Erza is way more experienced in handling clients on the job. She was quite shy because she still doesn't know how the whole job system works. But she's getting quite the glimpse of it with the help of them of course.

"Lucy are we there yet?" Natsu lazily asked as he turned his head back towards the celestial mage who was taking hold of the map on her hands. They've been walking around for about an hour and now, he felt impatient. His fists are searching for a head to punch.

Basically, he's already itching for a fight.

"The map says it would take around 2 hours to get there. It's a pretty remote place so travelling there is quite long."

Natsu just went back facing the road with his shoulders shrugged. To be honest, he didn't understand one thing about what she said. They trudged along the road path seeing the place completely distant from the big cities. Farms and fields are mostly present here since the people around these parts are all but simple folks with simple lives. They cared nothing about the problems of the outside world nor the Council itself.

A couple of few farmers turned their heads at the group assuming that they're strangers around these parts. The sound of the wind blowing softly at the fields of grasses gives them a glimpse of nature around them. Cattle grazed on the grassy fields at the side of the road. The sun shone brightly above the sky until a column of fluffy clouds covered its sunlight indicating a cloudy day.

Sara welcomed the smell of fresh air entering to her nose and skipped a few paces ahead of Wendy like a child enjoying its first stroll to the outside world.

"Haaa... This feels nice..." The blonde dragonslayer inhaled the air around her slowly as she enjoyed the taste of it.

Well she's a wind dragonslayer and it's quite normal for her to get a taste of the air around her. Plus, Wendy could somehow share the same experience seeing their magic had almost similar properties.

The rest of the team simply smiled at her in satisfaction. She's sure full of energy. Somehow her perky attitude gives the whole team a good vibe. Everything seemed to lighten up whenever she's around. Glad she's on the team.

"Come on guys!" Sara beamed in joy as her cheerful face radiated back to the whole team. Meanwhile, Lucy was tired from the whole running thing earlier and could only force a groan at the statement.

Again? Does she have unlimited stamina? Hope she doesn't get tired by the time they reach the town.

"Hoh! Sara's all fired up... Bring it on!" Natsu exploded as he was the only one to be able to keep up with her energy.

"I don't know what you mean but okay!" Sara spoke in glee as she took off ahead with Natsu tailing her. Happy stayed behind the team as he simply floated down into Wendy's head to rest. Apparently, Happy got quite accustomed with Wendy and Charle and he would always come over to Wendy whenever Natsu isn't around. You could say they formed a very strong relationship.

"There he goes... I don't quite get that idea of him being very energetic like that..." Charle raised a brow in question to Happy.

"That's Natsu for you..." Happy replied flatly as he enjoyed resting atop of Wendy's head.

"Should we go after them?" Wendy asked with a slight concern written over her face. Charle smirked deviously.

"Actually, you need to since those two have something common. Needless to say, they're quite compatible right Wendy?" The white Exceed trailed off her words in a teasing manner that made the bluenette teen flush in embarrassment. Her face heating up with steam comically coming out from her red face.

"Ne Wendy, your head is kinda hot. Do you have a cold or something?" Happy felt the heat of her head from his belly.

"CCCHHHAAAARRLLLEE!" Wendy frantically shouted in embarrassment as her Exceed begins to tease her again.

"Who's compatible?" Happy curiously asked as he tried to catch on to their conversation.

"It's nothing... You should ask Wendy about it." Charle snickered as she poke out her tongue teasingly at the confused blue Exceed. Wendy however, doesn't want Happy to be the first person to know about it. Not because he's close friends with Natsu but his habit of spreading misleading rumors about every topic he heard will greatly embarrass her. Happy was about ask but Wendy interrupted him.

"N-No it's nothing Happy. Just a topic about something."

"Ehhh! No fair! I wanna know..." Happy whined. Wendy could only look at Charle with a distressed look.

"Help me Charle..." Wendy mumbled silently hoping the white Exceed will help her out of this.

The white Exceed could only look at her in amusement. With their little secret threatening to spill out, she decided to help her.

"It's true Happy... We were just talking about the things needed to be putted on Sara's room to make it 'compatible' with its design." Charle smartly spoke out an excuse.

"I see... Can I come?"

Wendy and Charle looked at each other.

"I don't see a problem with that. Sure, you can come with us when we get back." Charle shrugged her shoulder as she sprouted her wings and floated beside Wendy and Happy. The blue Exceed exclaimed in glee as he could come.

"What about Natsu-san?" Wendy raised a question.

"It's alright. He said he's staying at the guild when we get back because he had nothing to do. He wouldn't mind plus, he isn't good at shopping."

"Truth be told." Wendy and Charle nodded in agreement. As the three conversed about things, Erza noticed the lack of a pink-haired boy on their group. Not just the boy but Sara is gone too. She was too much focused on the paper in hand, analyzing any suspicions in it. There were quite some incidents involving clients with fake paper requests that fooled mages, resulting them with serious injuries.

This is one of the flaws in a legalized guild.

People sent out paper requests on the board which you can't tell whether they're genuine or not. It's a waste of time sifting for the source of it since the request board kept itself flooded with new requests everyday so they had to deal with it. Erza however, took her time in reading her own requests handed to her. Her vigilance is very high especially when coming along with her friends to make sure they're safe.

She's a S-Class mage and she'll have to take responsibility in looking out to her friends. And now, she lost Natsu and Sara from her sights.

"Where did Natsu and Sara go?" The redhead asked having not to notice what happened earlier.

"They took off together. Making out love or something..." Gray joked, giving both the sky dragonslayer and the redhead a twitch. The former knew it was a joke but she could not help herself as she reacted over that bold statement.

"WHAT!" Erza shouted angrily as she clenched the paper and the handling of her cart with her frightening aura threatening to escape from her body. Gray and Lucy shrieked in fright as the redhead was beginning to explode in anger. Lucy elbowed her companion lightly.

"What did you do Gray?" Lucy whispered as she kept a scared face towards the seething Titania.

"I don't know... I was just joking around... I never thought she would really react to it." Gray cowered.

"Well she did..."

Wendy and the two Exceeds could only join the the two as Erza's reddish aura came out and glared over to them with intimidating eyes. She's clearly being mislead.

"Where are they?" Erza spoke in a venomous tone to the team who simply pointed their shaky fingers ahead of the road before them. Their eyes are flooding with tears comically as they were scared just from the tone of her voice. The redhead never returned a word from them as she looked through the road ahead of her and dropped her luggage and the paper in hands.

"Natsu!" Erza growled as she too sprinted fast to catch the two, kicking up dust from where she was earlier and left the team.

The group could only look in fear as the Titania disappeared into distance. What's her deal? Why is she easily worked up over that joke? Their minds now turned to their idiotic dragonslayer and began to pray.

Be safe Natsu.

* * *

Natsu and Sara stopped their chase with each other as they walked together along the road. They completely forgot about their team and decided to trudge slowly along the path hoping for them to catch up Though both are not aware of the steamrolling scarlet knight coming after them sooner or later. Natsu had his hands placed at the back of his head while Sara was eating a small snack she brought on the trip. Since their job is on a remote place, food stores are not present. In addition, she will need to replenish her energy for the incoming battle.

If the paper really says about the thieves terrorizing people on a nearby village, she had to prepare herself.

"Are you nervous about your first job?" Sara turned towards Natsu beside her upon hearing him speaking.

"A little bit..." She shyly replied. Natsu grinned in his usual toothy grin and gave a reassuring pat on her shoulder.

"It's okay... Everyone's the same when they go in their first job." The pinkette smiled.

"Really?"

Natsu could only nod in response.

"How about you? What was your first job like?" She continued getting him to ponder over to his thoughts back to his childhood years.

"Well... I was on a job about taking out some thugs inside Magnolia... I got no problem with it since they're easy to beat..." Natsu elaborated only getting the wind dragonslayer to giggle at his story.

"That's so like you Natsu." She chuckled as she put up her hand just below her chin, showing how much she was laughing at their conversation.

"Now where was I? Oh yeah... I was sent to help some families being threatened by those people and they just laughed at me because I was a kid."

"What happened?"

"I left them with a burning scar on their butts. I was so pissed because they're taking me lightly just because I'm a kid... Never underestimate a dragonslayer even if it's just a kid." Natsu finished proudly getting Sara to giggle again at his silly story. That's when she noticed something about his story.

"Happy wasn't with you on your first job?" She asked curiously.

"I found him inside an egg after a few days after that job."

"Huh?" Now Sara became confused. Did he just say egg? Happy came from an egg he found. She's pretty sure that cats never hatch that way. Well Happy's an Exceed, a different type of feline race that defies the logic of animal evolution. Plus he's not an animal. More like a separate feline race with keen intellect though not in Happy's case as Natsu's way of raising him resulted his now current self. The fire dragonslayer didn't notice Sara's bewilderment as he proceeded next to question the blonde mage.

"By the way, what does Zephy look like?" Natsu asked curiously but mistook the name of her foster dragon getting Sara to sweatdrop. He got it wrong.

"It's Zephyria. Natsu-kun." Sara corrected.

"Oh. Sorry about that Sara."

"It's no problem. You were about ask something about my mother?" She inquired.

"Yeah. What is she look like? Is she like scary?"

"So mean..." Sara pouted.

"I don't know what to say about our dragons because I was scared whenever Igneel's pissed at me." Natsu reasoned. Years of intensive training under his father's guidance made him view dragons as scary and mean. But Natsu never took it by heart as he loved his foster dragon as much as his family right now. Igneel probably did what's best for him in order to become a true dragonslayer. He learned everything from him starting from the culture of dragons to the culture of humanity. Plus, training very hard is a good habit and he didn't complain about it.

You could say he was the best father and dragon he ever met. But unfortunately, he wasn't able to spend more time with him due to his untimely disappearance and he was left alone to fend for himself. Then things happened and he met many amazing people in Fairy Tail that changed him.

Sara could only wonder how Natsu's life went with that kind of dragon. Unlike his harsh treatment from his father, Zephyria taught her the ways of life. She learned so much about the human culture than the dragon's culture. Of course, she was also trained by her foster mother with the powers of the Dragon Slayer Magic but not as extreme as what Natsu had been through. Although they've been raised in different ways, the love of their dragons shown towards them are all similar as they've been regarded as their own sons and daughters despite being human.

"Zephyria was... very kind." Sara's words trailed off as her thoughts went back from her time with her foster dragon. Even though she grew up in the arms of her non-biological father, she never forgot all the times she have spent with her.

Natsu looked back at her curiously as the blonde dragonslayer began to talk about her dragon.

"She was caring...softhearted towards me and to the other living things... She would always told me amazing stories about other dragons.."

"Does her story talks about Igneel?"

"Why would Igneel be in her story?" Sara flatly asked.

"Well Igneel is the most awesome and the daddiest of all dads out there." Natsu spoke proudly as he lightly punched the air above him getting the wind dragonslayer to sweatdrop at him.

"And where did you learn that?"

"Me..."

Figures... What the hell's daddiest anyway? Sara took an opportunity to fool the oblivious dragonslayer.

"Now that you mention it, there's really a story of a great dragon called Igneel in one of her stories." Sara innocently spoke as she placed her index finger just below her tip like a person in question of a certain topic.

"Really? I wanna hear!" Natsu cheered in glee having the name of his father heard throughout the dragon realm. Little did he knows that it was all part of Sara's all-planned joke putted towards him. Really, he was so easily misled from just a simple story.

Sara cleared her throat as she began her story.

"From what I heard from mother, Igneel was a proud dragon who conquered many cities and defeated many dragons in his time." Her tone was becoming dark as the suspense began to build up their atmosphere. Natsu was tense but was willing to listen more about his father's dark history. Though he was shocked because Igneel never told him about any of this.

"R-Really?" Sara could only nod to confirm his thoughts and began to proceed.

"One time, he burned the whole world with his flames and the dragons described it, The Red Earth." Natsu gulped in fear upon knowing his father's previous actions. Did she said that he burned the whole world one time? Natsu never even heard of this from Igneel and why does only Sara's foster dragon knew all of this not Wendy's or even Gajeel's dragon. Well he didn't ask them about his father so he never got the chance to confirm it to them

But still, it's so very scary about the fact that Igneel had a one dark past. One that he didn't knew even from all those years.

Then again, he was really being fooled by Sara who was trying to hold off her laughter discreetly at the sidelines. His troubled face was really priceless that could threaten her to explode in laughter any minute now. But she had to continue as Natsu urged on about learning more of his father's past.

"Then one day, he disappeared from the world without a trace and that's when the world saw green forest once again as his wrath vanished. It is found that he started to raise a boy from a secluded forest."

"Hey that's me..." Natsu exclaimed.

"Indeed. Then, the dragons feared of what might happen next. They assumed that the child will be the next Igneel who will bring destruction once again to the world." Sara's voice became more darker as she swayed her arms dramatically as the course of the story came at a turning point. Natsu could feel a disturbing feeling forming inside his heart as the story talks about him.

"W-What did they do?"

"The dragons all agreed to find Igneel and his child and defeat them in order to prevent another Red Earth from happening. So they vanished on the day of July 7, X777 in order to hunt down Igneel."

"Wait what?! You knew the reason?" Natsu asked in disbelief but Sara ignored him and continued.

"With the dragons away to hunt down the feared dragon, they entrusted their dragonslayers to take care of his child. To this day, there's not even a sight of the dragon's child and now, you resurfaced and we dragonslayers have finally found you Natsu." Sara spoke darkly as she began to move into her battle stance.

Again, this is a joke.

Natsu could feel her sudden hostility towards him. Wait what's the catch here? She said that the other dragonslayers are hunting him down. But why didn't Wendy and Gajeel do it in the first place? Are they just waiting for the right time to strike? Did they knew all of this?

"We finally found you Igneel's son... Prepare yourself." Sara called out a duel as Natsu took a step back, frantically scared and unsure what to do.

"W-W-Wait Sara... C-Could we just talk about this? I n-never even knew all of this, trust me... " Natsu quivered in fear as he curled himself near a tree as his face was sweating all over from the sudden turn of events.

Igneel, just why? Why did you leave your son like this? Don't shove me together with your problems and leave your son dealing it alone.

Sara couldn't take it anymore as her face gave away of her fake expression and started laughing much to the pinkette's surprise and confusion. She clutched her stomach as she knelt down to her knees, wiping a tear from her eyes due from the intense laugh she's having. Natsu's uncertainty was instantly washed away as he saw her sudden change of reaction.

What just happened?

"Why are you laughing?" Natsu could not help but ask. He was totally confused about her laughing all of a sudden. I mean, here she is standing in front of her so-called target. She's here to hunt him right? So what's with the laughing? Sara waited for a few moments to let her laughter die down from the made-up story.

"It was a joke..." She spoke as she tried to regain her composure.

"Huh?"

"It was all a joke. There was never a dragon like that and the whole Red Earth thing was made up. You should really see your face after hearing that kind of story."

"Soooo... Igneel never actually did that?"

"Nope..."

"And the whole hunting thing was a made up too?"

"Yep..."

Natsu took a few seconds to process everything until he realized that he was fooled by her. He pointed a shaky accusing finger at the blonde dragonslayer.

"Ahhhhh. You tricked me..."

"You just noticed?" Sara asked.

"You're so mean Sara!" Natsu spoke in an annoyed tone as he stood up from the tree and crossed his arms in disappointment.

"Tee-hee~." Sara poke out a tongue in a seemingly cute way that made Natsu stumbled from his position.

Sara twirled around facing her back to him as she began to pace a few steps away from him with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Plus, even if it was true, I won't hunt you down."

"Why?" He asked curiously.

"Because you were kind and caring just like Zephyria but a little too extreme not that I find it irritating. Being around you seems kinda fun and peaceful at that." Sara smiled as her cheeks began to turn slight pink. Natsu was also taken aback from her words. He doesn't know what to react after being complimented like that. He could scratch the back of his head in embarrassment as he walked up to her.

"Gee, thanks."

"Welcome..." Came a happy reply.

It was then they noticed the rest of their team are taking much longer than usual to catch up to them. They really took their time talking with each other and they're still not here. Natsu and Sara glanced back at the road behind them.

"They're sure taking their time keeping up with us." Natsu spoke.

"Or maybe we're too far ahead from the group... Should we go back?" Sara suggested.

"I don't wanna come back and drag them myself. I could just wait for them..."

"Me too."

The two waited in the shade of a tree connected to a forest beside the road waiting for their team. The sun was in its brightest and the heat slowly rises through the course of the day. Natsu doesn't have a problem with the heat seeing he's a fire dragonslayer but Sara is beginning to sweat from the rising heat. Gathering a small amount of air around her. She gestured her hand towards her face as the air followed it and smoothly touched her face. Her hair slightly swayed from the moving air as she enjoyed the air softly blowing towards her.

"How long are they're gonna come?" Natsu was impatiently stomping his foot while having his arms crossed.

"Should we go back? Just to be sure." Sara proposed getting the pinnkette to nod.

But before they could walk back to the road, their eyes widen in alarm as their heightened ears picked up a shout coming from the forest. Natsu looked back towards the forest together with Sara who was starting to get cautious.

It was a shout of distress. And it would seemed like the person inside the forest was having trouble. Sara looked at Natsu.

"Did you pick that?"

"Yeah."

Natsu then began to use his nose to track any suspicious scent lingering inside the forest. The scent of plants, animals and tree barks made it hard for him to track anything. Then finally, he managed to pick up a faint smell in the midst of it. His eyes narrowed as he caught a couple of the same scent from the last one. He counted 14 of them then he found another faint smell, different from the others. Only one thing that came into Natsu's mind.

That's the one who shouted earlier.

After picking their scent, his expression became serious as he looked back at Sara who was wearing the same expression.

"Let's go Sara."

"Yes."

Natsu and Sara began to sprint through the forest to track down the scent. Hopefully, they could make there in time. Natsu jumped high between tree branches silently whilst Sara used the wind around her to glide herself smoothly to prevent any noise coming from them. The scents became stronger as they neared to it. They briefly stopped as they landed into a nearby bush to hide their presence. The two dragonslayers slowly made small paces as the sounds of twigs and leaves rang inside their ears as they neared themselves towards the source of the scent.

Moments later, they begin to hear faint conversations coming out from the area.

"Hey, what should we do about this boy?" A gruff voice sounded in the middle of the area asking one of the people present with him.

"Dunno... We already punished him because he sent out a paper request into some guild. You do know what will happen if that paper request was approved by a guild right?" Another voice joined in the conversation.

Natsu and Sara slowly moved further through the bush as their eyes managed to pick up 14 guys with clubbers and swords strapped into their waists. But their eyes became focused on a small black-haired boy lay beaten on the ground surrounded by the men in the area. The boy had tattered clothes and received bruises from the other parts of his small body. They could've assumed that it came from those guys.

"What?" Another guy asked curiously at the question at hand.

"Are you dumb or what? Of course, they would sent out mages to clear up the problem. And this boy-" The man briefly stopped as he kicked the beaten boy hard into his stomach making him grunt in pain as he forcefully drew out saliva from his mouth due to the strong force of the kick.

"-sent out one." He finished.

Meanwhile, Sara gritted her teeth in anger towards the men. How could they just do that to the poor kid? Moments sooner, she felt the heat rising up from Natsu's body and became slightly worried as she saw his face seething in anger.

"What does the boss say about it?" Another went in to join their conversation.

"He says to stay put and take care of the boy. He even wants to see this kid's family. Says he's got something for them after this boy's little adventure... outside the village."

The boy somehow managed to pick up of their conversation having it talking about his family. He weakly tugged the man's trousers hoping to get his attention.

"W-What's happening to my family?" The boy stuttered as his weak and beaten body made him hard to speak a word. The man simply smirked darkly as he knelt down at him with knees bent.

"Well, the boss is about have a chit-chat with your family since you made a very, very, very smart move to sent a request to a guild. And because of that, the boss ordered us to get rid of you. After that, your family's next." The man chuckled darkly getting the boy's bruised eye to widen in surprise.

"P-P-Please... Don't h-hurt them...A-Anything but not them..." The boy pleaded as his tears starting form from his eyes.

"No can do...The boss already made it clear for us. Once we get rid of you, we'll get to your family next..."

"I-I beg you please... N-Not my family..."

The man simply closed his eyes and shook his head as he stood up from the boy and stomped his big boot down to his stomach getting him to shout in great pain.

"Say, you got some pretty beautiful sister back there right?"

The boy was trying to get the boot out of his stomach but he heard him clearly about mentioning his sister.

"You can entrust your sister to us now kid."

"W-What?" He weakly asked.

"Don't worry, she can join you later... after we break her first.." The man laughed evilly as the boy widen his eyes in shock.

But his laughing stupor was cut short as a crimson blur went past by them and the man was fiercely met by a flaming punch right into his face, making a bone-shattering sound that boomed across the area sending the man crashing to the trees due to its tremendous force. The force was so strong that the man wasn't able to recover himself as he continued straight, tearing down tree by tree as he crashed far away. Dust kicked up at the crash as the man was nowhere in sight.

That punch alone was enough to make any person immobile for life.

"What the?" The rest of the guards widen in disbelief as Natsu appeared before them. The fire dragonslayer looked at them in complete anger with his black onyx eyes. His fearful gaze made some of them to cower in fright just from his glance.

"W-Who are you?" A guy asked intimidatingly at the pinkette who wasn't fazed from his threat. Others began unsheathing their weapons pointing at Natsu who was just glaring at them in anger.

After scanning all of them, Natsu quickly dashed forward towards a random guy with a flaming fist in hand much to the others' dismay. The guy never saw the flaming fist directed towards him as he was fiercely blown away within a few meters away with a scorching mark in his cheek.

"You damn pieces of shits!" Natsu growled angrily as he backhanded two guys lunging their weapons behind him. The two guys were sent flying as their weapons broke easily from the punch and connected to their faces. Other men went in to surround the pinkette in numbers. However, Natsu flared up with his magic as flames began to envelope in crimson light. He empowered his fists once again and launched himself towards another bunch of guys who cowered from the display of his power.

"T-This guy... H-He's a mage." Another man pointed out his shaky finger at the pinkette upon realization. Natsu looked towards guy who realized it and quickly dashed forward to him before stopping in front and proceeded with a flaming roundhouse kick that sends him tumbling away.

"I won't forgive all of you!" Natsu shouted angrily as he puffed his cheeks, gathering flames from his mouth seemingly to prepare his respective dragon roar against the men.

 **"Fire Dragon's Roar!"** Natsu shouted briefly as a stream of fire erupted from his mouth and went straight to the men who could only widen their eyes in shock as they were swallowed in the fiery roar. The roar continued its way outside the area and tore through the forest, leaving nothing but burnt trees and scorching bodies of the unlucky men caught up in the devastating spell. Small patches of flames burned from the sides as the spell subsided until turning into small embers.

One guy who was hiding from a nearby bush used the opportunity to strike the mage down as he emerged from his hiding place with a weapon aimed behind his back.

 **"Wind Dragon's Gale Strike!"** Two small vortexes of compressed air shot through the bushes and hit the man through the chest sending him to a nearby tree. Natsu grinned as Sara leaped into view before landing behind him, facing the remaining enemies at her sights.

"I would've sent him flying though anyway."

"I know, but I don't want you getting hurt in the slightest by them..." Sara smiled as wind gathered around her arms thus enhancing the power of her attacks.

"A-Another one?"

"T-This must be the mages hired by the brat..."

"Shit! Run!" A collective of shouts sounded from one of the men as he tried to flee from the battle.

"You're not running away!" Natsu and Sara shouted in unison as both mages puffed their cheeks, charging their roar.

 **"Fire Dragon's Roar!"**

 **"Wind Dragon's Roar!"**

Both dragonslayers let out their roar from the remaining members as the stream of fire and wind enveloped the remaining men in the area. Both roars eventually subsided leaving only a trail of scorched and gashed bodies from the intense heat of the flames and the strong gales of the wind. Natsu sighed as they defeated all their enemies and removed his battle stance together with Sara.

"Glad that's over." Sara spoke in relief.

"Yeah."

The boy who managed to witness the fight, weakly called out to them in distress.

"P-Please help...my family.."

Sara and Natsu suddenly turned their attention at the beaten-up kid and immediately ran over to him. Natsu slowly carried the boy in his arms and placed him in a soft ground to give him comfort. Meanwhile, Sara looked over to his wounds worriedly hoping that there isn't any serious injury that he got during the beating. The boy began to struggle as he tried to get back on his knees despite his injuries. He wants to get back to the village as soon as possible. Natsu saw this and urged him to rest in order for him to recover.

"Hey, don't move around so much. You'll get hurt if you try to get up."

"A-Are you two the mages sent here?"

"Yeah."

"P-Please save the village and my family. I-I'm begging you.." The boy mustered all of his strength to speak before passing out shocking Natsu.

"H-Hey! Wake up!" Natsu was about to shake the boy's shoulders, afraid that the boy died from the beating when Sara held his hand reassuringly as she looked softly at the boy.

"Don't worry. He's just unconscious."

"Thank the Dragons."

Sara then slowly raised the boy's head and placed him to her lap. She placed his hands in open palms just above the boy and began to glow in color as her magic began to heal him in the process. Natsu breathed a sigh of relief as he patiently watched her healing the boy's injuries. It's miracle that the boy had managed to withstand those beatings. If they've been too early then he wouldn't have to suffer like this.

Noticing a small twitch of movement coming from one of the battered men who was lucky enough to be beaten up instead of burned alive, Natsu stood up as he went over to him and forcefully grabbed him wholly. He used the back of his clothes and placed him high in a broken branch of a nearby tree and left him there before going back to the two.

"He's going to answer everything later."

"Okay..."

The two waited in the area as Sara continued healing the boy with her magic. His wounds are slowly closing up and the swollen bruises are starting to lessen. The scratches on his body are also healing up giving him comfort as the pain slowly vanished from his body. Eventually, the boy's contorted face vanished as the pain disappeared completely and was replaced with an innocent and peaceful expression that made Natsu and Sara to smile in relief.

After a few minutes of watching over the boy, Sara finished healing the boy's injuries and gingerly placed her hand into his head, touching the soft strands of his black hair affectionately. You could say she wanted to act in a motherly way for the kid. After all of what he'd been through, it's natural for her to give him support. The boy slowly shifted from his sleep and felt the soft touch of her hand from his head, letting out an innocent smile. Natsu could only look at her in wonder.

"You sure are good at this kind of thing."

"Thank you... Zephyria taught me how to comfort animals whenever they're lost from their parent."

"I see...So humans are animals too?"

Again, Sara giggled at the silly answer.

"You're funny."

They noticed another shift from the boy as he stirred from her lap.

"Onee-chan?" The boy mumbled as his eyes are slowly opening. Sara hummed as she gently pat his head. The boy finally opened his eyes wide and tried to adjust to his surroundings. For some reason, he was resting on something soft. He tried shifting his head and noticed he was resting on somebody's lap.

"You're awake?" Sara spoke softly as she saw him trying to process his surroundings. The boy looked over to the source of the voice and looked up to see Sara smiling brightly at him. He had mistaken her as his sister since he felt the same warm feeling whenever his sister comforts him.

"Sorry but I'm not your sister." Sara corrected.

"W-What happened?" He slowly rose up from her lap and looked at his surroundings. He slightly widen his eyes in surprise as he saw multiple bodies lay beaten, burned, and gashed around them. His memories slowly went back to him as events that happened earlier about hearing about his family and his rescue from the two unknown people beside him.

"We took care of them..." Sara explained.

"Yo! You feeling' alright?" Natsu beamed as he raised his hand, catching the boy's attention to him.

"I'm fine now thanks."

"You should thank her mostly. She healed your injuries. I only did the beating out of these guys." The boy looked back at Sara.

"Thank you Onee-san."

"No problem.. I'm Sara Hatsumi by the way. That pinky over there is Natsu Dragneel." Said mage twitched his brow in irritation after hearing another new name about him.

"Pinky?" Natsu retorted.

"I'm Raven. Raven Selverion." The boy quickly spoke.

"Are you the one who sent a paper request about getting rid of some thieves on some village?" Natsu inquired only to have the boy to nod in response. The fire dragonslayer smiled as he gave a supportive pat to the boy in his back.

"That's very brave Raven."

"Thanks..." Raven shyly spoke as he was complimented by Natsu.

"So where's your village at?" Sara asked curiously.

"There's a road leading to it though I don't really recall how far because I was kidnapped by those guys and threw me in here." Raven explained as his face became sad at the thought of his village and family.

"Don't worry Raven-kun. We'll help you get rid of those thieves. We got your paper request." Sara smiled getting Raven to widen in surprise.

"So you and Natsu-nii were sent by the guild?"

"Not just us, there's more people coming to help your village."

"Really?" Natsu could only nod giving the black-haired boy hope once again. Natsu then stood up as his eyes fixed back to the direction where the road is before looking back again to the two.

"Now then, I'll head back to the road and try to see if th-" He stopped momentarily as he heard a faint sound coming from the same direction where the road is located. The sound became more clear as it was seemingly coming towards them. Natsu immediately realized the familiar female sound making its way towards them. Moments sooner, he saw a steamrolling Titania making her way towards him without stopping.

"NNaaaAAATTTTttSSuuUUU!"

"Oh, Speak of the devil, there she i-" Again he was stopped as Erza grabbed his collar with a steaming red face probably due to embarrassment or anger.

Natsu could only sweatdrop and cower in fear as he could see her quite angry at him.

"H-Hey Erza. Good to see you?" Natsu asked nervously.

"I found you Natsu..." Erza growled getting the pinkette to quiver just from the tone of her voice.

He didn't do anything wrong right?

"Where did you two have gone? Why did you two just take off without informing me? You two didn't do anything with each other right? Making love or sorts like that? Tell me, tell me." Erza bombarded the poor dragonslayer with one question after another. She was clarifying if they did something to each other. Her face was turning beet red with every embarrassing question she throws at the dragonslayer. She was shaking the dragonslayer up and down from her grasp making his body limp like a ragdoll as it followed every shake in a very funny way.

Poor Natsu.

Behind the two, Sara could not help but blush as the redhead was talking about things between the fire dragonslayer with romantic stuffs. Raven could only watch in amusement as the whole comedic act between the three of them continued.

"E-Erza calm down... I don't know what you're talking about."

Somehow, Erza managed to stop her relentless shake at Natsu as she noticed a kid near Sara's lap. Wait what?

"A...Kid?" Erza muttered blankly.

"Me?" Raven pointed his finger at him seeing her referring to him.

In an instant, Erza's face match that of her hair color as she went back in shaking Natsu once again comically.

"I knew it! You two really did **** this and that and **** with that. How long have you two been doing that? How old is that kid? Answer me Natsu!" Erza frantically shouted as she mistook the kid as their son.

"WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT! You're getting it wrong Erza-san!" Sara panicked as she can't take the flustered face she's having. She's really misunderstanding the whole situation.

"What's wrong with her Sara-nee?"

Moments later, three figures and two floating felines emerged from the bush as they just recently came after the redhead. Gray and the others were panting heavily as they look like they went through hell.

"Finally, some place to get a rest." Happy groaned as he descended down to the soft grass and rested in it with Charle and Lucy joining in afterwards. Wendy and Gray are the only ones who were still able to stand up after all what they've been through. Apparently with Erza gone to chase the two earlier, the whole group was forced to pull her enormous luggage since she will need it when they come into town. It was a lot heavier than they expected and Erza was pulling it every day with ease.

So that's why they took so long...

After taking a few breathes to calm themselves down, Gray and Wendy looked over the area with bodies burned and gashed. Then, their eyes followed to Erza and Natsu with the former strangling the latter to death in seemingly funny way but something was off. They caught sight of a kid beside Sara who was looking back at them with wonder. Gray could only shook his head in assumption.

"So they really did it after all." The ice mage nodded in agreement as his guess earlier was indeed true.

"Awawawawa! N-Natsu-san... That's not fair..." Wendy could only whine in embarrassment with her face going red all of a sudden as the last two statements were mumbled in her mouth which didn't go unnoticed by the ice mage beside her who looked back at her in shock.

"You want too?"

"NOOOO!"

Raven could only look at the rest of the mages being misled at one misunderstanding that led into another. Are they really the mages who accepted his paper request? Their antics make it seem like it was a joke. More importantly, did a guild actually have mages like them in Fiore? What could've gone wrong in the outside world. At least Sara's the only one who isn't being misled but he could still see her blushing madly at the redhead's questions earlier. He thinks it's time for him to intervene. That's enough entertainment for one day.

He stood up having his injuries fully healed and went at the center of the fray.

"Everyone!"

Somehow, everyone stopped their bickering and their eyes turned towards the black-haired boy. Even Happy, Charle and Lucy who had their heads faced down on the ground manage to tilt their heads, seemingly called out to their attention. It was then, Raven bowed down to his knees with his head bent down in front of them, begging to the whole team.

"Mages...Please help me save my village."

* * *

 **A/N: Done! Chapter 6 is done. :)**

 **So here's the announcement. Chapter 7 will be updated in a short time than the usual update schedule. I wanted to keep track of this story's chapter to the other story so it won't be hard for me to get confused about picking up different documents on the queue. So rejoice cause I'll be writing solely on this story until chapter 8 so for the others who are waiting for the next chapter of the Heart of Fire, sorry but I'll be postponing its updates in order for this story to catch up. Bear with me guys okay? I won't leave any of my stories incomplete even it takes months or years.**

 **That's all for the announcement. See ya guys next chapter :)**

 **Did you like the story? Leave a fav. or even follow it. I'd appreciate it.**

 **Also, your thoughts? Just leave a review. It gives me motivation to write more.**

 **See ya guys and stay awesome :) - PEACE - V (^_^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	7. Save the Village

**A/N: Hi guys. As promised at the announcement last chapter, chapter 7 is finally out early. Hope ya like it.**

 **My current status in my profile had my time very difficult to manage especially posting this. Dentist recommended my rest but I can't turn back against my promise last chapter so I did everything in my power to finish this.**

 **Here's chapter 7 of the story. Have fun and Happy Reading :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't Fairy Tail nor its characters. OCs are mine.**

* * *

 **\- Save the Village -**

Natsu and the group together with Raven waited patiently on a nearby bush just beside the road. Apparently, the road towards Raven's village was also guarded as they encountered a make-shift guard post just at the side of the road with several thugs patrolling the area. It would seemed like the thieves didn't just terrorized the village but took over it and isolated its people from the outside world. In Raven's case however, he managed to send word to them about the situation of his village even though he knew the risk of endangering his life.

After all, he cares so much of his village and he will do anything to save them and his family even at the cost of his life.

"This place seems lightly-guarded..." Natsu spoke as he scanned and counted their enemies by their scent with his nose. There were only about 7 of them patrolling the guard post and it seemed like they aren't mages since they carry magic-embedded weapons only. He could not even sense a tiny magical pressure coming out from their bodies.

"You'll have to wait for the others to get in position Natsu." Erza reminded her pink companion as she kept their conversation in a very low voice to avoid detection. Currently, they split themselves into pairs as they planned on taking down the men simultaneously without arousing suspicion. Natsu got to pair himself with Erza and Raven much to his dismay, Sara and Wendy paired together with the two Exceeds and lastly, Gray and Lucy took the last team slot. Both split teams carefully sneaked around the area by using the environment to mask their presence.

They've picked their designated targets according to their numbers and to the ones nearest to their ambush spot.

"What's taking them so long?" Natsu could not help but complain about the decisive plan. Sneaking was not his forte. He hated the waiting and wanted to fight his enemies with full power. Taking your enemies by surprise is unfair for him.

"You'll have to be patient Natsu in order for our plan to succeed." Erza spoke softly getting the pinkette to calm down and agree to her suggestion since he had no other choice. Everyone seemed to agree with the plan and he didn't want bite in it anymore.

"Is it really okay to do this?" Raven asked worriedly from behind the two as he could feel his uneasiness of the situation. He's never been so close to witness mages in action especially in situations like this since mages are like rare to be seen in these parts and he's never been into big cities in a long time. Natsu proceeds to pat the little boy's head in reassurance as he tried to wash away his fears and doubts.

"Don't worry Raven. Everything will work out. If anything happens, we'll protect you okay?" Natsu grinned in his usual toothy grin that made the black-haired boy to smile happily at him. That smile alone was enough for him to feel safe and secure from these people. Natsu doesn't want to see another kid getting hurt by them. It just feels inhumane for him.

"Okay..."

"Now, you just stay here and watch me... I'm gonna show you how awesome my magic is..." Natsu boasted silently as Raven giggled over his over-confident behavior. He knew he was trying to cheer him up and it made him comfortable on the inside. He's very much like the same from the people in his town.

A tiny magical circle appeared near Erza's right ear as she heard the voice of Gray communicating to her silently.

"We're ready... We've got two guards standing right next to us. We're waiting on your go." Gray briefly reported as Erza nodded before turning to the next team.

"How's your position Wendy?"

"We're clear and all ready."

"Alright." Erza spoke sternly before turning off the communication magic in her ear and went back to the two males.

"Okay, we got three guards in our vicinity. We need to plan out in taking all three of them at the same time with the others." Erza spoke as she discussed their situation at hand. Natsu and Raven listened carefully as the redhead began to plan out their attack on the three guards near them.

After a brief moment of discussion, Natsu and Raven nodded in agreement as Erza finished their plan and went back to observe the guards once again.

"Okay everyone, we'll take this guys out on my count... Make sure your targets are already set and use your magic to knock them out cold got it?" Erza spoke silently at the communication magic as the rest of the team nodded in response.

"Here goes...3...2...1...GO!" Erza shouted briefly as guards were caught off guard from the sudden noise. The team used this opportunity as they emerged from their bushes and used their magic respectively against their opponents. Erza and Natsu came out of their bushes leaving Raven alone to simply watch the whole battle between the mages and the guards. He was amazed as his attention was focused mainly on Natsu who started punching the two guards with his flaming fists, sending them tumbling a few feet away from him.

So this is what a battle looks like.

The battle was short-lived as the guards were easily defeated at the well-planned ambush. It seems they got all of them without having to raise an alarm at their presence. Raven was simply astonished at their battle.

They defeated those guys just like that?

Natsu and the others met up at the center as they gathered the bodies of their defeated enemies and piled them up inside the guard post. Natsu dusted off his hands as he threw the his own enemies first followed by the rest of the group. Thinking that the area is actually safe now, Raven emerged from his own bush to meet up with the team. But as she neared to the group, Natsu looked at him with hostility and fired a medium-sized fireball from his mouth seemingly headed towards him.

Raven could only widen his eyes as the fireball went past from him in just mere inches from his face. Then he heard a scream of pain and agony coming from behind him and saw a cloaked guy with a knife lay burnt from the ground. Even the rest of the group was shocked at the unfolding situation.

"Wha-" The black-haired boy could only stutter as Natsu walked over him with his now calm expression.

"I told ya didn't I? No matter what happens, we'll protect you." The pinkette smiled as he patted Raven's head again softly as he could.

The black-haired boy took time to process everything. Apparently he was utterly shocked of what he's just experienced. His face looking like an adorable puppy with tearful eyes as he looked like he was starting to cry.

Too close...Too much close to witness a fight like that.

Raven could only make out a short quick "Thank you" from the pinkette as he proceeded behind him, tugging his clothes to get himself attached at the dragonslayer from the burned cloaked person. He soon took a brief look at the burnt man and examined him with his sharp eyes. The guy is actually different from the others as he possesses a magical pressure indicating him as a mage. His eyes narrowed as he saw an unfamiliar guild mark present below its right shoulder.

Natsu could only scratch the back of his head in realization as he looked back to the kid with concern.

"But still, I can't believe that these thieves would actually associate themselves with a dark guild."

The fact of them taking over a village under their control greatly baffled him to no end.

* * *

 _ **Flashback...**_

 _After calling out the attention of the mages from their own separate problems, Raven sat in front of them facing the whole team with different odd looks on their faces. Natsu was keeping himself composed after the whole continuous questioning he'd suffered from the blushing red head, Sara and Wendy had their faces held up high in a state of trance as they're both shocked from the events earlier regarding the misunderstanding about Natsu and lastly, Gray and Lucy sat there in the midst of the group completely fine though with the former panicking soon afterwards as his clothes ran away from him, shocking his blonde companion for life._

 _The black-haired boy could only sigh in disappointment as he witnessed another one of their entertaining yet disturbing habits._

 _Are they really Fairy Tail mages? That thought alone makes him wanna dismiss their claim and compare them into some clown parade instead. Not that he wanted to spat it out to them. What's he gonna do against a group of insanely powerful mages? At least pair him against those two flying cats to even the fight._

 _Clearing his throat to call back their attention to him, Raven changed his expression into a serious manner with a small hint of worry._

 _"Natsu-nii... Everyone, will you help me save my village?" A couple of heads slightly twitched at the odd addressing of the boy towards the pinkette. But their minds were mostly focused on his plea._

 _"Are you by any chance our client who sent this paper request?" Erza held out a slightly crumpled paper in her hands due to her tight grip earlier at the road._

 _"Yes..." Came out a brief reply._

 _Erza and the others with the exception of Natsu and Sara looked at each other with unassertive looks. It was only brief for a moment until Sara decided to speak._

 _"Can you tell us more about what's going on your village?"_

 _Everyone now became curious about it and decided to wait for the boy to answer._

 _"It was total chaos... At first, we didn't bother about their first raiding since they only took little from us... Then after a few days, they came again in numbers. They looted houses one after another and took every valuable item we have. It was then that we knew that we're being occupied..." He paused._

 _"...Some people tried to fight together with our chief but they're easily outmatched as the thieves had magic weapons with them... Their boss killed our chief in front of our village and threatened all of us about sending help from the guilds..."_

 _Some of the members began to widen in realization that this isn't some kind of thief extermination. They could see how these people act around as bandits instead of thieves._

 _As the explanation continued, Natsu could feel his anger boiling up... One thing that he doesn't want see in his enemy's account is the prospect of killing.. It is very wrong... Taking away lives like they're not worth treasuring. People like that doesn't even realize the importance of it which further increased his anger. His growing outburst however was instantly washed away as his clenched fist was held softly by Sara who was trying to keep him compose as she could for him._

 _"Are you sure that they're only thieves? It seems to me they're like killers or something." Lucy tried to confirm her thoughts to the boy._

 _I mean, how could a thief would resort to killing. That would extend the boundary of their rogue affiliations. She knows that thieves only do things by stealing and sorts but killing is another matter. Just as about she was to delve further to her assumptions, Raven spoke out his answer._

 _"That's half true..."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"The part of the request about thieves terrorizing the village was true since I had mentioned before but they're not alone..." Erza and the whole team simply listened as Raven continued his explanation._

 _"What do you mean they're not alone?" Gray inquired._

 _"Remember when I told you about their second attack on us? About how they came in numbers and acquired magic weapons?"_

 _"Yeah..."_

 _"We just learned that they actually sided with a dark guild... Their boss was actually the guild master of that dark guild..." Raven revealed shocking the whole team. All of them seemed to have misheard about what he said. A dark guild?_

 _"Did you just say a dark guild?" Charle tried to clarify of what he just said. The boy meekly nodded in response._

 _This has quite turned into some kind of dark guild exterminating mission. Their minds question about the dark guild and its motives. Why would they recruit a clan of thieves to do their bidding? It is quite understandable for them to capture a defenseless village with innocent civilians living in it. It might just on a whim or just a trap for attacking unwary travelers along with the villagers. They didn't know but they all knew that this has to be dealt with._

 _"Why all the secrecy?" Happy asked._

 _"I don't want to risk the villagers from being killed. If I had written about a dark guild terrorizing our village, they would've killed everyone including my family... So I took the liberty of writing a small provocative message in order for them to show mercy towards my village or possibly buy them some time. The boss and the men earlier were convinced that the guild would only send weak mages seeing it as a small threat but it seems they're mistaken..."_

 _"Why is that?"_

 _"I saw Natsu-nii and Sara-nee fight off those guys to protect me. That's enough for me to say that you were all strong mages..." Raven paused._

 _"... Plus, handing my request to the Council would spell a death wish for me and the entire village."_

 _Erza was impressed at the child's initiative. He really did think a lot about the consequences of his actions before carrying them out. A mind like that was far beyond that for a child. Her thoughts over the child soon turned into something more as she asked something that Sara wished that it had disappeared from the rest of the group's mind._

 _"Soooo... You're not Natsu and Sara's son?" Erza shyly asked with cat eyes much to the group's surprise and shock. Said mages floored with the latter blushing once again. She's still not actually convinced about the misunderstanding earlier!_

 _"Why would I be their son?" Raven could only ask innocently at the redhead. The scarlet knight could only sigh in relief as she finally got the misunderstanding cleared for her. For a moment there, she thought that they really really did those shameless things._

 _"Damn, I thought I had it..." Gray hissed as he was mistaken by his assumptions about the two. It was then Wendy began swing her arms comically at Gray with a flustered face._

 _"Uuuuooo... Gray-san! ! !"_

 _Charle and Happy could only look in confusion at Wendy's actions._

 _"What's with Wendy all of a sudden?" Happy tried to ask Charle beside him._

 _"I don't know..."_

 _As the whole group was back to their lively comedic exchange with each other, Natsu rose from his feet and walked towards him before grinning wide at the puzzled boy._

 _"It's settled then. We'll take the job and free your village..."_

 _"T-Thank you Natsu-nii!" Raven proceeded to hug the fire dragonslayer who returned with a soft pat on his head much to his friends' shock._

 _Holy shit. Did he just became soft towards the boy. The ice mage could only vomit in disgust as he saw his rival going all soft on the little boy with his mellow actions. He winced in pain as he took a sharp jab to the stomach by a certain scarlet who stared murderously at him that gave him a collective shiver of fright._

 _As the group were done conversing about the village's situation, they heard a yell of distress coming from the man tied into a broken branch. He tried to shake his body forcefully to get himself free. His noise attracted their attention that made Natsu smile in delight._

 _"Oh, he's awake."_

 _The whole group stopped their previous ventures and began to walk towards the man who finally gave up in escaping from the area and faced the whole team with an intimidating glare._

 _"Perfect timing for him to wake up... I was about to ask about their boss and their numbers so I can beat them up..." Natsu grinned deviously as he bumped his fists together, creating a sickening sound to threaten the man. Unfortunately, the man somehow smirked in defiance from his intimidation. He's not gonna let himself spill the details so easily._

 _"Like hell I would tell ya bastard." The man spatted in disgust at the dragonslayer which made him twitch in irritation._

 _"Give it up... There's no escaping from us... Might as well just spill the beans." Natsu threatened._

 _"You don't have the guts to break me... You mages and your stupid honor..." The man mocked as Natsu tries to contain his urge to punch the life out of the annoying man. Just as he was about to threaten the man once again, he felt a strong and firm pat coming from the glowing scarlet knight. Natsu and the whole group including Raven yelped in fear as they saw her bone-chilling stare. They had to back away from the smirking scarlet hoping to avoid themselves being dragged into what she was about to do. Even the man had started to have second thoughts about being brave or submitting to the demon scarlet._

 _"Hoh... So you're a very brave one. . . . . . . Interesting..." Erza made a loud crack with a black whip on her hands which magically appeared somewhere for some time._

 _"Hiiieeee! ! ! ! She's a devil!" Both people aside from the scarlet and the man shrieked in extreme terror especially to Natsu and Gray... This is one of her unusual method when gaining information from their enemies. She even did that to Natsu for spilling a whole set of her strawberry cakes years back. The horrifying memories are still fresh in his mind as he hid behind Raven like a scared child with heavy irony._

 _"Now where should we start? Oh yes, tell us about the dark guild and their numbers... You have to give me clear answers. If not, you'll find this thing stuck to your body." Erza deviously spoke with a sadistic grin plastered on her face._

 _Is she really Erza?_

 _"Y-You wouldn't dare-"_

 _A sharp crack of sound blasted through their ears as the black whip sliced a nearby tree in a clean slate that soon falls into the ground with a twig-breaking sound. A collective of sweats drip from everyone as their heads turned over the slashed tree._

 _"O-Okay I submit..." The man quivered as he nervously dripped sweats from his face which turned pale at the scary sight._

* * *

 _ **Present Time...**_

The village was heavily guarded as the group hid far away, observing their enemies present patrolling the place. It was already nightfall as the moon and stars illuminate on the skies above Earthland. The sound of crickets filled every corners of the group's vicinity and a few fireflies started their little journey towards the sky.

It might be alluring for them to sit back and enjoy the beauty of the night if not for the village under the control of some dark guild before them.

Couple of guards stood in the near entrance of the village with torches in each hand for light in the darken area. Other make-shift torches can be seen in each houses looking like lacrima-powered streetlights back at Magnolia. Figures of patrolling men pass through each of the lights before disappearing again from the areas where darkness resides than light itself.

People are all flocking the streets standing at the front of their houses as if they were about to expect something. It looks like the dark guild is keeping the people under their grasp in order to prevent them from escaping.

"What do you think is going on down there?" Lucy asked the three dragonslayers who were using their ears effectively to hear everything that goes around the village.

"No clue... I can't seem to pick up anything from the guards." Wendy replied.

"We need to get moving... We must help Raven and his people before something bad happens..." Erza suggested in a serious tone, getting all of them to nod. The group silently make their way towards the side of the entrance of the village. Two guards lay standing on both sides, watching the road outside the village in case of prying travelers. With their plan in motion, Gray made a small ice rock in his palm and threw it just in front of the guards, alerting them in the process at the strange form of ice. Their weapons raised in alarm as both guards became cautious.

Unaware for them, two shadows loomed behind them, prompting them to turn slowly at the sight. Both guards weren't able to utter a sound as both Sara and Wendy silently knocked out the guards with compressed air from their open palms. Sounds of clattering weapons and fallen bodies were heard from the empty entrance as the rest emerged from their hidden bushes and regrouped together.

"That's two down though it won't be enough to shake off a hundred of them." Raven spoke briefly.

"Leave them to us... We can take them all down.." Natsu grinned as he stretched his arm in ready for the fight.

"I'll have to believe you on that Natsu-nii."

As the Exceeds carry their knocked out enemies through a nearby bush, Lucy and Erza peeked over the entrance as they witnessed villagers lining up to gather through the center. Children and elders were also dragged to the line as guards hold their weapons ready if someone tries to escape. The gloomy faces of some of the villagers made the two worry.

"What do you think is going on?"

"I have no idea...but something tells me there's something about to happen soon..." Erza narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Me too. I have a bad feeling about this."

"So what's the plan again?" Natsu's voice cut through their conversation.

"We defeat all of them... Leave the guild master to me Natsu." Erza spoke firmly. Natsu whined before going back to the group.

"Why does she always get the stronger ones..." Came out a muttered reply. However, Erza managed to hear all of it and only gave him a heart-warming smile.

 _'You're already surpassed me...Ever since that day.. I want to become stronger for you... For your acknowledgement..'_

She watched him go back in a discussion with his Exceed and Gray.

 _'...Heh.. strange.. Before everything else, you always aspire to beat me and now... I'm the one trying to aspire like you...'_

 _'... You really gotten stronger.. Natsu.. I, myself admit it through my whole heart..'_

With the whole team ready for the plan, Erza and the others moved themselves once again towards the sqaure as they began to find their designated positions for the impending rescue.

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

The villagers all gathered in the village square, being surrounded by a couple of guards with magic weapons to keep them under control. A large bonfire can be seen infront of the crowd with 4 cloaked figures, same as the one who tried to attack Raven earlier. At the center was a man in his middle-age, standing before them as his shadow loomed over to them created by the bonfire behind him. He wore a black cape and a long, grayish coat that looked like a military general. A leather belt circled through his waist and a pair of black boots fitted to his feet. His hair was long and dark blue hanging down to his back. A cross-shaped scar can be seen near his left cheek which added more of his intimidating appearance that made some of the villagers to flinch in fear.

He made a few short paces towards the crowd before crossing his arms.

"Well well well... It's been awhile since I had called you all before me... It seems you are all doing well in this past few days... How was it?" He asked.

The villagers can only look sideways, trying to avoid contact to the guild master. Their faces are dispirited due to the uneasiness present in their minds of being subjected under their control. Their peaceful lives were shattered, feeling that they can never taste freedom once again. A couple of guards laughed from their lack of response and helplessness.

While this was going on, the whole team waited behind the shadows and overheard the guild master. A number of approximately forty guards are seen around the village square. They need to take them all out to secure the villagers without risking any hostage situation.

Hearing a lack of response from them, the guild master began to change the topic.

"Okay. I have something to show you everyone." The man turned around and gestured the 4 cloaked figures behind him which they nodded in response at the order and brought 3 figures with black hoods masking their faces wholly. A couple of faces turn into horror as they saw the three being brought upon them. The three are knelt infront of the guild master.

"...Hmm..Let's see, you all know the Selverion family right?.." He paused as he proceeds to take off one of the hoods placed on one figure revealing a black-haired man with a cloth wrapped around his mouth, making him hard to speak.

Raven widen in shock and disbelief as he saw the familiar face of the man before him.

"F-Father?" Natsu who was in the company of Raven widen in shock.

The guild master then took off the 2nd hood of another figure revealing a female teen with a long black hair cascading down to her back, who was also muffled with the same piece of cloth around her mouth. The guild master smirked as he proceeded the last figure who was also a female woman with short black hair, reaching down only at her shoulders. All of them wore ragged clothes with a few scratches present on their faces. The villagers and the team hiding behind them had shown signs of concern over the three.

"M-Mother and Onee-chan?" Raven stuttered in disbelief as he recognized his whole family being brought upon the guild master.

"What are they doing with them?" Sara asked as her sights became focused at the three.

After showing the villagers the whole family in front of them, the guild master began to pace back and forth between the three and the crowd.

"You see, this family was one of the most well-trusted family here in this village... And it seems one of them tried to seek help from a guild... I already taken care of that one but that doesn't mean the whole family is saved.." He paused. Raven's family widen their eyes in shock of the revelation.

"...This is just a reminder if any one of you tried this again, you'll see yourselves in the same state as these people." A cloaked figure handed out a flat dagger onto him. The guild master played it through his fingers skillfully as Raven's father tried to scream through his muffled mouth. A couple of villagers tried to look away at the incoming execution. This has happened to their chief before and they can't hold themselves witnessing another death of one of their people.

The guild master leaned closed to the three of them.

"Any last words?"

They didn't speak but their tears are starting to form from two females, hoping for mercy while the father tried to bite off the cloth as his face was seething in anger.

"Oh well... You'll meet your little son soon." He smirked murderously as he forcefully pulled Raven's sister by the neck and pointed the knife at her throat making her parents beg in place for her.

Just as about he was about to slit her throat with his knife, a flying sword intercepted his hand, deflecting the knife in the process as a shadow appeared in the sides with a sword in hand, threatening to slash him. He backed away letting the girl escape from his grasp and landed near his four cloaked companions. The guards in the vicinity were shocked at the intruder and became alerted but didn't notice five figures appearing in different sides appeared before them.

 **"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"** Natsu grabbed two guards with both his hands before igniting them in flames and sends them flying towards other unsuspecting guards. Soon after, Gray, Lucy, Wendy and Sara all came out with their respective magics and blasted away the guards present in the area.

 **"Wind Dragon's Roar!"**

 **"Ice-Make: Hammer!"**

 **"Gate of the Maiden, Open: Virgo!"**

A series of different magics were blasted upon the guards and in just a few moments, all guards stationed to keep the villagers were already defeated by the five, shocking the villagers around them.

"Mom! Dad! Onee-chan!" Raven called out above the three as he was in mid-air, carried by Happy and safely landed behind Erza who was facing the guild master.

"Ah the little boy's back with help... How touching.. I already suspect that you mages would come here..." The guild master smirked darkly as he regained his composure with the four cloaked figures behind him.

"Hoh. You noticed..."

"But you have one little mistake-" He paused as he snapped his fingers loudly as multiple cloaked figures appeared around Erza and the others in great numbers. They sensed different magic pressures within every cloaked figure and could only deduce that this is the whole dark guild. The guild master laughed as he surrounded the scarlet knight and Raven who was shaking in fear at the number of their enemies before him.

"The kid only managed to send six of you with their little kittens and we're about a hundred. Do you really think you can defeat us in mere numbers?"

Erza, however only smiled.

"And?"

The guild master could only sweatdrop at the scarlet knight's blunt answer.

"What?"

"I don't care whether you have a hundred men but as long the bonds of my comrades are connected I will bring down another hundred more..." Erza flared up as she requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor.

"Don't underestimate us..."

"Dance, my blades." Erza spoke as swords began to appear infront of her pointed towards her surrounding enemies. The swords flew and slashed the enemies easily, leaving them gashes at the deadly rain. The guild master widen in shock as he saw her defeating his underlings in just seconds.

"Why you-" He gritted in anger as he blasted a large dark magic towards the scarlet knight above the air, who easily dodged it gracefully before sending another barrage of swords back to the enemy. The start of the aerial battle resulted the villagers to erupt in panic as they gathered themselves near the center under the protection of the five mages who are positioned in various sides outside them.

Natsu and the others focused on their enemies in front of them, surrounding them and the crowd in numbers.

"Sweet. More people to beat. Come at me you bastards, let me give you all a burning mark with my signature attack in it." Natsu taunted, prompting the mages around him to attack him in one go.

 **"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** Natsu delivered a flaming punch towards one of the mages and balsted through before returning a full backhand with his other arm that sends his enemies flying in great distances.

"Oi! You lookin' for a challenge are you Flame-Brain?" Gray twitched having to witness his rival showing off his fiery moves towards the villagers.

"What did you say? Wanna take this the hard way?"

"Sure. Though you might quit before we even start?"

"Alright, First place to the one who defeated more of these pieces of crap!"

"I ain't losing to you Flame-shit!"

"Same as me Ice-queen."

A mixture of fire and ice erupted to the far corners as Natsu and Gray proceeded their unrelenting attacks to the mages that looked like competition rather than a rescue mission. The girls could only sweatdrop at the sight.

"Those two are at it again." Charle sighed.

"I think it's a good idea for them to stay that way... We need them to push off these guys..."

"You're evil Sara." Wendy slightly chuckled.

"We gotta do our best too." Lucy reminded as Virgo came beside her, having herself to finish creating pitfalls for unsuspecting dark mages coming their way.

"Yes." Wendy nodded as both dragonslayers began to gather up air around them.

 **"Wind/Sky Dragon's Roar!"**

"Let's go Virgo!"

"Yes, Hime."

Meanwhile, Erza continued her aerial battle against the guild master as both sides clashed once again in another power struggle. Erza had changed to her Black-Wing Armor as she clashed her blade against the guild master's dark ethereal sword.

"You're interesting... It seems you're still able to keep up...I'm impressed."

"This is nothing compared to other opponents I faced."

"Getting all mighty now eh? Don't get cocky woman."

Once again, the two mages clashed in the air, sending ripples of shockwaves that can be felt from below as both sides parried with each other. Raven was left amazed at the sight before him. The intense aerial battle between mages was a shocking sight to see. He could feel the force generated by the two down to him that slightly gave him a shiver crawling through his spine. He was stopped in his train of thought as he was forcefully carried by Happy to the air, dodging a fire spell aiming towards them.

"Wha-" Raven stuttered in disbelief as he was close of being burnt alive if not for Happy.

"We're having trouble here too Raven..."

"You're not getting away kid." The cloaked figures charged up their flame spells at each other, generating a massive fireball. In a few moments later, they threw the fireball towards at each other, making shout in panic at the incoming attack.

"Wahh!" Happy and Raven in unison before they're engulfed in the explosion that soon followed upon their contact. Raven's family widen in shock as they witnessed the flame seemingly enveloped their son. Soon after, the people begun to hear unusual noises coming from the explosion itself only have their eyes fall from their sockets including the cloaked figures even though their faces are masked, from the sight before them. Natsu was gathering the flames into his mouth as he made munching sounds while eating the flames. One mage was able to recognize the pink-haired dragonslayer's power.

"It's the Salamander!"

"What does a mage from Fairy Tail doing here with them?"

Natsu ignored the talks about him and simply landed down in front of them creating a small crater from his descent.

"Natsu!/Natsu-nii!" Happy and Raven shouted inrelief having to see their pinkette save them from the blast.

"Yo! Close call back there."

"Thank you Natsu-nii."

The fire dragonslayer could only grinned back at them before turning his attention towards the enemy before him.

"Thanks for the meal... I'm all fired up." He clashed his fists together with flames getting them to cower in fear.

"He really is the infamous Salamander! ! Run! !"

"Oi! where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you bastards!" Natsu roared as he dashed towards the fleeing enemies and began punching them with his flaming fists.

"Burn him... Burn him alive!" The four cloaked mages tried to attack him once again with their fire magics only to result Natsu eating their flames like food.

"You all really don't learn do you?" He wiped the last bits of ember from his mouth and began to flare up in crimson flames. The sight of his intense flames made the mages to cower in fear of his power.

 **"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"** Natsu attacks the two dark mages in a downward, claw-like fashion, sending his enemies down the ground with scorched marks from the flaming attack. The remaining two could only take a step back away from the fearsome dragonslayer.

"Tch, if it's come to this then-" One mage gritted his teeth in anger as he proceeded over the three tied persons and took the black-haired girl together with his companion. Natsu and Raven could only widen in shock at the underhanded tactic.

"Onee-chan!"

"Let's go Happy!" Natsu motioned his Exceed as he took off with him carrying Exceed with them. He looked above them and saw the ongoing aerial battle between Erza and the dark guild master. What's taking her so long? It was then he thought something that would speed things up.

"ERZA!"

Two combatants stopped their fight as they both looked over the voice below them. Erza could only wonder as she recognize his voice calling up to her. What does he want?

"HURRY UP AND DEFEAT THAT BASTARD ALREADY! I'LL ACCOMPANY YOU WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE GUILD AND BUY LOTS AND LOTS OF STRAWBERRY CAKES! MORE THAN THE ONE I SPILLED, YOU HEAR ME?!"

Meanwhile, the scarlet knight could not help but blush at the sudden declaration of the pink-haired dragonslayer. Did he just say he would accompany her? She wasn't overjoyed about the fact of being bought a hundred of her favorite cake but to the fact that Natsu will actually come with her to buy cake. Is it like a date of something?

Looking back at the dragonslayer with a hint of excitement over her face despite the strong facade she was giving, Erza smiled warmly at his words of encouragement.

"It's a promise Natsu..."

"Sure... Win for me Erza!"

"You got it Natsu!" She smiled as she faced back to the bewildered guild master who happened to have heard their conversation.

"Did he just say Erza?" He asked in confirmation of his claim.

"Yes, he did."

"S-So you're the mighty Titania I've heard all over Fiore... So you guys are from Fairy Tail huh?"

"Yes!"

"Interesting! Now I've finally to have myself to meet you in person Titania. I've been waiting for this moment." He laughed as he began to flare up his dark magic all over his body which applies to Erza too as she began to requip into her Purgatory Armor.

"You're gonna regret making yourself an enemy of Fairy Tail!"

The intense aerial battle between Erza and the guild master continued, creating tremendous shockwaves between each clash that sends a shiver of fright from the onlookers who happen to witness their high-speed fight.

Meanwhile, Natsu, Happy and Raven are in hot pursuit, trying to catch the two dark mages with Raven's sister on one of their shoulders. Despite the weight of her, the mages haven't lost any speed and zoomed in each street corners in plans of confusing the three pursuers. Unfortunately for them, Natsu was gifted by the power of smell and the act was therefore in vain as the pinkette led his two companions at the chase.

"Shit! Does this guy never stop?" One of the dark mages sneered as he could still see them pursuing them even after each skillful turn from the street corners. The real plan was to lose the fire mage since it's a bad match up between them since the former is immune and able to use flames on a whim.

"Just run will ya? Don't shoot him with any fire spell; it will only feed him power if you do it..."

"...Let's lure him to the Blade-Master.."

"Shut it girl! If you try anything funny, I'll kill you on the spot." The one carrying Raven's sister spoke in a intimidating tone to silence the girl, trying to get herself free from his grasp.

This is starting to become a wild goose chase. No, for Natsu, it's a game of search and destroy with him the predator and the two guys the prey.

 _'Fuck, stop. I gotta girl to save!'_ Natsu slapped himself at his thoughts as he gave chase.

"Natsu, they're losing us." Happy warned as he felt a slight strain while carrying Raven in his arms. Even though a kid, he can't keep anyone afloat with him. What more he can take if it was Lucy he was carrying. That girl really weighed a ton for him and he wouldn't last that long.

"Not if I can't help it."

Natsu took a brief moment and jumped high as he instantly charged up his flames into his mouth.

 **"Fire Dragon's Roar!"** A large stream of fire erupted from his mouth and went past over the two, setting the road before them ablaze with the flames reaching a few meters high, getting them to stop as he blocked their path. The intensity of the flames made it hard for them jump through as it would only burn them in mere seconds. Flames of a dragon are different from other flames as it was the most hottest and probably the most destructive.

"Good going Natsu." Happy cheered as he proceeded with Natsu, catching up to the trapped mages.

"There's nowhere to run. Might as well hand over the girl over to us idiots." Natsu threatened.

"Like hell we'll do it. You're just in time to get sliced by the Blade-Master."

Natsu frowned as a long, sharp blade descended above him, threatening to slash him in half. He dodged back as the blade made contact to the ground, revealing a white-haired man sitting the the hilt of the blade.

"What the hell? Who are you?" Natsu glared over the white-haired man who began to stand to the ground and stood between him and the two dark mages. The man's white hair was tied behind his back with its tail in a spiky formation. Multiple scars, probably from his battle wounds are seen in some parts of his face. His wearing a long gray robe with a piece of black clothing tied in his waist. Swords of different kind are also seen in his features behind his back. The man wore a emotionless expression towards them with his hollow red eyes.

"So is this the famed Salamander?" He asked with a hollow voice from his two companions.

"Yes, Khitrell-sama."

"How many times do I have to tell you lots not to mention my name in front of an enemy?" Khitrell spoke in a more darkly tone that made the two to slightly quiver in fear.

"M-My apologies Blade-Master-sama..."

"No need to get so formal now. You useless wimps already gave away my name."

Natsu's expression turn dead serious as he could sense his new opponent different from the two. He sounded dangerous.

"Happy, Raven stay back. I'll take care of this one very quick." The Exceed took a few meters back together with Raven as Natsu stepped into battle with Khitrell.

"He's a fool for trying to challenge Khtirell-sama like that. It's a death wish." One of the mages behind Khitrell gave a warning but Natsu didn't care. Raven was beginning to doubt about the situation. The guy in front of them is the one responsible for killing much of their villagers who tried to fight back at the raid.

It was then, he felt a reassuring reply from the Exceed to ease his uncertainty.

"Don't worry, Natsu is a lot stronger than you took. You just have to believe in him."

"...Happy..."

The fight between two mages was about to begin as Natsu faced off with Khitrell with determination. In an instant, Khitrell dashed forward towards the dragonslayer in high-speeds with a deadly uppercut that alerted him, as he barely raised his fists from the incoming attack. the force shook the dragonslayer as he was sent in the air only for the white-haired swordsman to follow him in a blink of a second.

 _'He's fast!'_

Natsu gritted his teeth in frustration as Khitrell began to unsheathe one of his weapons behind his back. The weapon was large scythe with a bone skull in between. Khitrell began to glow in dark red together with sword and proceeded to slice him down. Natsu raised his fists to block the attack in mid-air, sending a powerful shockwave the reached the ground, shocking the people below them.

"I'm impressed that you managed to block this attack... Countless mages cannot hold the force of this weapon since it was made from one of the hardest metal on Earthland." Khitrell remarked.

"I don't give a shit about it... or where was it made. I'll just smash this into bits if I have to." Natsu growled as he ignited his fist in flames, giving him additional force to fight back the weapon pointed against him. They broke away in a brief moment before entering again into another power struggle with each other.

 **"Death Scythe!"** Khitrell shouted as the sickle glowed in dark red once again and began to swipe downwards, sending a wave of dark red magic against Natsu.

Natsu stood there waiting for the attack to hit him, getting Khitrell to slightly widen in shock at his opponents stupidity.

"My scythe drains your power and stamina upon contact with its power... You are finished."

The energy clashed with Natsu as he raised his hands before him and tried to push of the deadly wave. He ignited himself in flames as he forcefully pushed back the wave, making the blade-master to widen in surprise.

"I-Impossible. That wave was suppose to drain your magic. How come are you still able to fight?"

Natsu didn't answer but roared angrily as the flames around him grew bigger and bigger until he swiped his arms in its separate directions, cutting off the wave easily.

"Wha-" Khitrell was cut short as Natsu came propelling himself with his flames towards him in high-speeds.

Raising his weapon in hand, sparks flew as Natsu's flame-coated fist connected to his weapon. He felt his bone rattling from the impact of his punches even from the blade itself and could not help but break away as he tries to assess his enemy's power.

"This my first time seeing such a powerful enemy...No matter I still have more weapons on my arsenal and I can make various combinations on how to take him down..." His face was starting to sweat in nervousness, his once blank expression was easily replaced with desperation as he looked at the burning dragonslayer with both black onyx eyes fixed only to him.

"Don't get too much cocky boy!" Khitrell began to attack Natsu as he took out another blade from his back and clashed with the pinkette once again. Sparks and embers are only seen from the dark skies as both sides attacked in similar high-speeds that cannot be followed by the untrained eye.

 **"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** Natsu shouted as he delivered a flaming punch towards Khitrell, only for him to block the punch easily with his blade.

"Easily blocked-" He was cut short as the blade immediately shattered into pieces, shocking him in the process and in the same time felt a stinging, burning pain from his cheek as he was punched and sent down to the ground.

"K-Khitrell-sama!" The two dark mages who were at the vicinity of Khitrell's crash shouted in worry as they were dumbstruck at the fac that their strongest dark mage was easily overwhelmed.

Moments later, Khitrell emerged from the crater with bruises and scratches all over his body. His robe was slightly torn and he felt like he had seen better days.

"What's wrong? Too early to burn out?" Natsu taunted as he descended down in front of them, giving them a slight hint of fear in their faces as the dragonslayer began to make their way towards them.

"You're actually stronger than you look. Seems like I underestimated you..." Khitrell remarked while trying to keep himself composed despite the situation before them.

"Really? Then I should tell you how stupid it was."

"Unn... As for that, it seems I had to end things here quick... I don't want my master to wait any longer..." He began to gather amounts of magic around him as his scythe glowed more intensely as before, giving Raven a slight sign of fear. The pressure of his magic was dreadful like it was threatening to suffocate him just from the sight of it. He slightly widen in shock as he saw Natsu as calm as ever in the situation.

"It's time to die dog!" Khitrell shouted as his magic were focused in one point of his weapon that shook the ground below him, leaving large cracks from the intense force.

 **"Death Scythe: Dark End Wave!"** A wave of dark red magic swept its way towards Natsu in a fast pace, making Raven to widen his eyes in disbelief.

"Natsu-nii!"

 **"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art, Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"** Natsu shouted in frustration as he spun his arms in a circular fashion as the falmes in his arms, spiraled into a torrent of tiny exploding flame bursts that went straight towards Khitrell's attack. Both flames and dark red waves clashed in a power struggle. The intensity and the explosiveness of Natsu's secret move was powerful enough to instantly burn away the wave and broke off the the struggle in an instant, shocking Khitrell.

"H-How in Earthland-" He stood there astonished as the spiraling flames blasted through him enveloping in him in the intense flames, resulting an explosion that blew everything back. Soon, dust settled revealing an badly burnt Khitrell with a voiceless scream in his face. The two mages gawked at the sight before them. Their strongest mage in their guild was lay wounded before them against the pink-haired dragonslayer.

"K-Khitrell-sama is d-defeated!"

"Shit.. He's a monster!"

Natsu stood there emerging from his previous stance before glaring madly at the two mages.

". . . .GIVE. . . . .HER. . . . .BACK. . . ." The tone of his was dead serious and with was filled with venom as the two sweated from their faces out of their fears at the dragonslayer.

"She's all yours! For all we care!" They suddenly dropped her to the side of the road near the burning houses before running away from the fearsome dragonslayer.

"Where do you think you're going?"

 **"Fire Dragon's Roar!"** A stream of flames simply enveloped the fleeing dark mages, leaving their scorched bodies at the street. Raven and Happy smiled in joy having the mages been taken care of their dragonslayer.

Their celebration was short-lived as they heard a scream of help coming from Raven's sister who was crying for help, as the structure near her was collapsing from the flames. Natsu widen his eyes in alarm as the burning wood was about to give way above the girl. If that falls, she'll be crushed. Without any moment to waste, Natsu dashed towards the girl as the wood came falling down towards her.

Raven's sister closed her eyes, seeing the wood that size would ensure her death though she felt nothing of a crushing wood against her nor felt anything burning in her skin except the heat around her. She slowly opened her eyes, revealing a Natsu lay kneeling in front of her with arms stretched and pressed to the ground just in both sides of her face. She was lying down and it seems Natsu protected her from wooden debris.

Her eyes widen in shock as his back was against the falling wood before them. The piece of cloth wrapped around her mouth was already placed down to her neck.

"Y-You're hurt!"

"Don't worry. I'm immune to fire...

"B-But-" She was cut short as Natsu interrupted her.

"Don't worry... This is nothing... I promised Raven to protect him and his sister... No way I'm breaking his promise now is it?" The girl only looked at him in wonder having to have seen his unwavering eyes fixed to her. He was really intent on keeping his promise and save her no matter what. Natsu then looked over to his surroundings and saw other burning pile of debris around them. It seems the whole house burned down crushing everything except them.

"Okay... Time to get you outta here and get back to your little brother..." Natsu smiled in determination as he began to flare up his magic as fire coated his body wholly. At first, the girl was scared since the contact of his flames in his body was near to her body but surprisingly, it didn't burn her unlike the rest of the heat.

Natsu roared as he used his power and flames and blew away the debris above them, sending them flying into different places, making Raven and Happy to fly away a few meters from the intense burst of flames.

"Natsu-nii!" Raven shouted in worry. The smoke obscuring the area where his sister and the dragonslayer are blocked their visions. They waited for a few moments until the smoke cleared until they saw a figure walking out from the smoke. A huge sign of relief and happiness instantly washed the boy's heart as he caught sight of Natsu carrying his sister in his arms at her back and knees, bridal style. Raven and Happy don't know what to say at the sight. It was like in those lacrima-movie theaters where the hero saves the heroine with explosions and crap like that. They didn't know it would really happen in real life.

Nevertheless, they were grateful that they're safe as Natsu gently put down the girl from his hold and cut the ropes and the cloth around her neck, setting her free. Happy let go of Raven who proceeded to sprint his way towards his sister.

"Mirai-Oneechan!" Raven shouted in tears as he happily leaped into his sister's embrace and both gave an affectionate hug.

"Raven! Thank goodness, you're safe." Mirai cried as her silky black hair swayed from her sides covering the sight of their embrace. The gently flow of the winds blew her long hair eventually, reflecting tiny bits of moonlight from it. Natsu and Happy could only wear satisfied looks as the reunion between Raven and his family was completed.

"We did it Raven!" Natsu grinned as he pumped his fist in the air, making the two Selverion siblings to look at him in delight.

"Thank you Natsu-nii, Happy. You really kept your promise." Raven happily teared as he ran up to the dragonslayer and hugged him tightly.

"Aye! Natsu always kept his promise and he would never break them..." Happy remarked.

"Yeah I am!" Natsu grinned proudly, getting the little boy to laugh from his bashfulness.

"U-Umm. Natsu-sama..." A shy voice emanated from the older female sibling as she tried to look at the dragonslayer with her black eyes.

"Hmmmm...?"

"T-Thank you for saving me earlier..." Mirai smiled with her cheeks tinted pink from the embarrassment.

"No problem. Now let's go back with the others... This village is about to be freed."

"Aye/Yes!"

* * *

The guild master crashed to the ground as wounds and scratches were seen all over his beaten body. Dust kicked up at his fall and slightly obscured the area. Descending in front of him was Erza Scarlet donning her Nakagami Armor. Apparently, the guild master didn't expect a very powerful brute force coming from the scarlet knight's halberd that instantly knocked him out from their battle. He really miscalculated the Titania for being such a weaker being beneath him.

Never underestimate the mighty Titania... It's because she's Erza.

"C-Completely defeated... She's a monster." The guild master stuttered in fear as he went out cold after uttering those words.

Erza sighed as she began to revert back to her Heart Kruez Armor as the battle between them was already finished. Bringing Nakagami Armor was a bit too much but who cares. She's from Fairy Tail and they should've expected that.

Looking over to the slightly damaged village around her and bodies of the defeated mages done by her teamates, she will have to take responsibility for this. Master isn't gonna like the fact that they tore down another large property. Jewels will be spent and it will left Master in a depressing state once again. But it can't be helped, the job turned out to be a dark guild extermination mission type. They didn't expect that it would really come to that. Lucky for Raven to send this paper request right away to them.

"Erza, we manage to get all of them though the other remaining mages fled the village." Sara came into view with Wendy and Charle. Their faces dripping sweat indicating their exhaustion from the heavy fight.

"It's okay. We only needed to drive them away from this village."

"But still, they put up a lot of fight in numbers..." Gray emerged with little scratches from his body with his upper clothes gone at the midst of the battle, making the two female dragonslayers to cover their innocent eyes and shouted "Kya" from the disturbing sight.

"Gray, grab something to wear dammit!" Lucy reminded as she bonked the ice mage's head in irritation.

"How should I know? They always disappear everytime I fight." He complain.

"They disappear because you unknowingly strip yourself before heading to battle. Find some clothes."

"Fine fine." Gray lazily drawled and looked away from celestial mage before remembering something.

"By the way, where's the Flame-brain? running away in the middle of a contest seems unlikely for him."

"Don't know. How about you Erza?" Lucy asked, making the redhead to ponder in thought.

"Last time, I saw him, he was with Raven and Happy chasing two guys." But before she could continue, Wendy exclaimed in surprise and pointed her finger towards the source.

"Natsu-san!" Heads turned over a grinning Natsu with Happy floating beside him and the two Selverion siblings. The whole team then proceeded to sprint over the fire dragonslayer in delight as they saw him.

"Good to see you Natsu." Erza smiled.

"Thanks Erza..." He paused as he looked over to her shoulder and saw the guild master lay defeated on the ground.

"...Told ya, you could handle it..."

"I have to thank you for that Natsu..." Erza proceeded with her ever painful hug to the fire dragonslayer to her ironclad chest which Natsu was never used to in the past years he'd experienced it. It still hurts like hell. A couple of widen eyes gaped at the sight.

Poor Natsu... No one's gonna stand in the way of Erza steel hug. She had one hell of a hug which should be taken seriously.

"It hurts..." He mumbled under his breathe after freeing himself from her grasp, gingerly touching the bump forming on his head.

"We finally did it!" Sara exclaimed in joy which made Natsu to grinned wide.

"Job Request: Completed!" Natsu shouted in response as he punched the air with his fist, having the rest to join his shout of victory. The sounds of friends erupted through the night as their hearts came out strong and saved the village from evil hands.

It was their victory..."

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys. Sara's introduction arc is over including her first job so we'll be moving unto arcs between girls starting from Mira. :) Look forward to it. Still hurting after my tooth extraction. Swelling isn't helpful either so I'll have a one day of rest before starting again to Chapter 8 then to 9 on both stories. I've been trying to find a more fitting picture for this fic and finally found one which will be updated on Chapter 9.**

 **See ya guys next chapter and stay awesome. :) - PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	8. Celebrations and Farewells

**A/N: Hey guys wiErD here. Here's chapter 8 of the story. Finally caught up to this chapter with the other one but I'll be still doing chapter 9 to 10 after it before going back to the other one because I'm so hyped in doing this. And of course, school's coming so my current updates will be infrequent at most times because that reason alone makes my hands full of everything. Not pleasant but that is the truth, nevertheless I will try to take some of my own time to continue on this story. I won't abandon every story incomplete.**

 **Just a little announcement of this story's book cover that had been recently changed into Sara's character. You may see her features and imagine her inside the story with Team Natsu so it won't be hard for anyone to imagine her by description.**

 **Have fun and Happy reading :)**

 **Disclaimer: I would never own Fairy Tail and its characters. I'm just playing with them. xD**

* * *

 **\- Celebrations and Farewells -**

"Seconds, please..." Natsu called out from a nearby villager who happily took the bowl from his hands and went back to get it refilled for him. Currently, he was sitting with the rest of his team eating their own chosen respective foods, offered by the villagers to them after their bravery and triumph against the dark guild who had been keeping them under control for a few days. Everyone was overjoyed at their victory and joined the whole team much to their surprise. They thanked them generously as tears of some villagers were seen around them. More importantly, Raven was celebrated as a hero for them since he was the one who called them here.

There was no one as brave as the little boy for sending out help despite the situation he was in. Volunteering solely by himself by which others cannot do, he really gained respect and praise from his people upon his return. Of course, seeing him safe in the hands of Fairy Tail mages, his family rushed over to him in tears of happiness.

It was a sight to see, having yourself reunited once again with your family and feel their warm embrace. Natsu and the dragonslayers could somehow relate to that kind of situation. Though, being left alone by their dragons to fend for themselves, they found sanctuary and a place to call home in the halls of Fairy Tail where people band together and create bonds of family and friendship. And someday, they would invite their foster parents to that place upon their reunion.

Raven's father who was currently the adviser of their late chief, expressed their gratitude to them and celebrated their victory that ended up an all-night party for the whole village. It wasn't like the party they used to held in Fairy Tail but the smiles and cheers of the people around them made it seemed like home. Before anything could start, Natsu and Gray were already in their heated argument much to the team's horror since it might came as a bad image for them and their guild. But surprisingly, the entire village were delighted at entertainment.

They danced, celebrated, drank throughout the night with Natsu getting himself drunk together with Gray who was babbling nonsense with each other that might have involved Gramp's influence of the birds and bees that made Erza's head boil in anger and went in knocking him out cold.

Nevertheless, it both served as entertainment and an uplifting spirit for the villagers around them.

It continued overnight but the team rested until morning only to have it still going.

They really admire their saviors much considering the fact that they're good mages happening to be in a remote place which is very surreal for them.

It was already morning and the group were eating with Raven's family and some other people on a long table outside with different decorations planted on every corner of the village. Colorful paper wraps were tied along the sakura trees with different intricate designs. Needless to say, it was a beautiful scenery for the whole village apart from its state when it was under control from the dark guild. People are lively once again making it seem like their gloomy faces last night didn't even existed. They carried on with their everyday chores while stopping by to greet their saviors.

Sara and Wendy aren't used of being praised too much as they only passed a wave from their hands with forced smiles on their faces to hide away the embarrassment. Natsu on the other hand, simply did what he does all the time, he greeted villagers like he knew them wholly from his life. But it didn't serve as an offense towards the villagers since he wore an innocent smile on his face making them to adore him more. A few girls are startling to giggle at his toothy response which didn't do well for a certain scarlet and two dragonslayers any good.

"I hope my people have served you our gratitude well in your stay." Raven's father spoke formally as he reached out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe off the leftover food from his mouth.

"It's well beyond than enough Ferrix-dono. I could ask no more." Erza replied as she sliced down her food into small pieces and ate it gently.

"It's okay for us Erza-dono. It's been natural for us to treat anyone who helps our own. In your case, however was special since you saved the whole town..."

"I think that praise should fall to your son already Ferrix-dono... He tried his very best to call help... We only swooped in and did our job as Fairy Tail mages... Well, most of us volunteered by heart instead of following the job." Erza smiled as she gazed over to her team eating and talking to each other happily together with some villagers joining in their conversations.

"Ah... Yes. I have to thank you for that again Raven. You saved all of us." Ferrix turned towards his left, revealing Raven eating a piece of meat before looking at him with an embarrassed face.

"UUuuooo... It's nothing really father. I just did what I needed to do to save everyone..." Raven whined as he couldn't take all the praise coming from him since last night.

"Don't think it too much lowly Raven. What you really did back there was amazing... especially at the paper request." Erza butted in as she proceeded to praise the little boy.

"Paper Request?" Ferrix looked both at them in confusion.

"Oh I never did tell you how he called us here. Apparently, he sent out a request for help from the legal guilds. Considering the fact of having his village still under control of the dark guild, he intelligently devised a well-known plan to send it out without having risking the village from creating bloodshed. Such intellect is far beyond that of a child." Erza mused.

"Ara, Ara. He might have inherited his smarts from his father." A cheerful voice voiced beside them, revealing a black, short-haired woman carrying breakfast pastries in her arms and placed it towards the table before giving off a radiating smile at the three.

"Kaa-san!" Raven exclaimed in joy.

"Good to see you made it back here Hikari. So did the villagers handed the remaining thieves and mages over to the Council?"

"Yes, darling. The Council also have been chasing this dark guild over the past few years. Glad to have them locked behind bars."

"Good to hear that..."

Erza couldn't handle herself whenever she's between two couples exchanging their intimate conversation. It's not like she is left out for being single but rather uncomfortable around them since her thoughts about romance was due over the boundaries of a normal one. Hikari then looked over to Erza with curious eyes as she leaned over from the table to observe her.

"So you're Erza-san..." Hikari asked for confirmation with her sweet voice .

"Y-Yes..." Erza spoke briefly. Hikari smiled as she reached out a small strawberry cake in a plate from her hands and placed it down to her. The redhead suddenly widen her eyes like that of a cat as she saw her all-time favorite cake before her.

"B-B-B-But - How did you know? And I'm pretty sure, this place is remote to have this kind of cake." She stuttered in shock as her face was starting to turn into delight over the cake. Meanwhile, Hikari giggled in delight at her question.

"I was a former baker from a nearby town... But after since marrying Ferrix, I decided to live here and share some of my skills on how to bake a cake..." She paused as she saw Erza nodding briefly before turning her attention back at the cake.

"...But I didn't knew you'd like strawberry cakes Erza-san. They happen to be my favorite as well..." Hikari smiled before having her hands held gently by Erza whose eyes are sparkling with joy.

"I know right... They're the best Hikari-san..."

"Yes they are..." The short, black-haired woman beamed in joy with their conversation that soon turned out to be a friendly one between cake lovers, specifically at strawberry ones. You could say they found someone who happen to have the same taste about pastries. Ferrix could only sweatdrop at the two women especially to his wife. She's not acting according to her age though he might wanna shut it up to himself. His wife has one hell of a back swing when angered.

"Kaa-san is getting friendly Erza-nee, Tou-san." Raven spoke as he too manage to gape in shock at the sight of his bright mother.

As the conversation between Erza and the Selverion family continued, Natsu and the others had their own type of conversation too. Lucy was quiet about the whole thing happening around her. Honestly, she wanted to because of two certain mages eating without manners across her. Good thing she was beside with Sara and Wendy, in addition of two Exceeds sitting at the same row. They could only watch in amazement as Natsu continued to eat and eat including some flames presented at the table.

She gotta ask though, where does it all go? She could see his stomach still in its same state even eating for awhile now. At this rate, he would've left the whole village in a food shortage.

"He's not stopping any moment now..." Sara whispered at Lucy ear as she also looked at Natsu eating another large meal and swallowed a huge meat in his left hand in one go.

"How should I know. He should've been punished for eating too much..." Lucy answered in a deadpan tone.

"You do know it's not a crime..." Sara sweatdropped. Currently, she was just finished eating her meal as she was tending to Happy who was peacefully eating his own fish at her lap.

"It seems the villagers are happier than last night don't you think?" Wendy beamed over to the two girls, who turned their attention to the bluenette.

"Well after what happened last night, it natural for them to be that way. Plus, Natsu did his best to cheer them up." Sara smiled.

"Natsu-san sure knows how to get people happy...especially to Raven."

"Yeah and he just earned himself another boy fan." Lucy butted in. They couldn't deny her claim though since they noticed Raven's admiration towards the fire dragonslayer. Not that they have a problem with it. It's just that it seems unnatural since Natsu is just a plain idiot.

"Oh don't forget, he also made his very own fangirls." Lucy continued before lazily pointing a finger on some female onlookers who wanted to watch the eating dragonslayer at the sidelines. A couple of squeals followed when Natsu turned a glance at them and made his usual toothy grin though he wasn't aware of the current situation.

"...I'm surprised that some girls would really like Natsu despite him being like that." She continued.

Sara and Wendy twitched their brows in irritation but they hid it from the others to avoid them noticing their distaste on the topic.

"I just wished we could've gone home already..." Wendy muttered that went unnoticed from the blonde celestial mage.

"Why would you want to go home that bad..."

"Homesick..." Sara interrupted, shocking Lucy in the process.

"That's very unusual for you to get used to Fairy Tail as your home that early... I mean - you never even spent a whole week in Magnolia."

"It's pretty easy really." Sara skillfully lied through her mouth without arousing suspicion from the celestial mage.

"You're amazing Sara...When I first came into Fairy Tail, I haven't gotten myself used in living in my apartment if not for that idiotic duo barging over to my home without asking." Lucy sneered at the last statement before looking at the fire dragonslayer and his mischievous Exceed with irritation.

"Does Natsu always enter your room that often?"

"Yeah, and to be honest, he only comes around for food or invites me for a job. I'd very much like to choose the latter though. I need jewels for my rent in the next month." Lucy sighed before placing her hand below her chin to relax her head and stare at the other views of the village.

"Does your jobs really pay you with little credit?"

Lucy let go of her hand supporting head and let it fall down to the table with a thud and gave a groan. She forgot to tell the wind dragonslayer the very sole reason why her jobs paid her insufficient jewels. Even Wendy could only sweatdrop at her new best friend's clueless mind.

"Well you see Sara-san, Natsu-san always destroys everything when we are all on a job... The reward is compensated as a result." Wendy elaborated with careful thinking.

"R-Really? Is he really that destructive?" Lucy and Wendy nodded in agreement. They might be overreacting a bit about him but knowing his brash attitude when it comes to fighting, she might have herself convinced. That has yet to be seen though. As they were talking more about things, they heard a sound of clattering plates, seemingly to have fallen on the table. The three looked at the source and found Natsu and Gray butting heads again with different colors of aura glowing out from them.

Not again.

"That's my food Icicle!" Natsu retorted as he glared in annoyance back at the now topless ice mage.

"No, I got it first Flame-Brain..."

"You took it while I'm not looking..."

"What are you talking about? I had it in the first place..."

"It's mine."

"No, mine."

Natsu and Gray's heated argument over some food escalated quickly as both mages are already standing, readying for another bout. A couple of village girls began squealing between the two boys. Lucy doesn't know if she should be entertained or be problematic about it. Somehow, it's starting to become more a showdown of popularity without the knowledge of the two oblivious mages. The two didn't know and they didn't care as their eyes are only fixed at each other in a staring contest with both sides giving off angered looks.

"Look Gray-sama is fighting with Natsu-sama." A teenage girl spoke in delight as she called on other people of different ages and began to watch at the unfolding sight.

"Kya! Gray-sama's clothes."

"They really don't get along do they?"

"Gray-sama is cooler than Natsu-sama..."

"But Natsu-sama is hotter."

Unaware for Lucy, the two dragonslayers snapped their chopsticks in half on their hands while eating their food in their bowls. Both bodies are shaking, desperately trying to hold off the growing irritation as they hear each compliment about a certain pinkette. Girls among the crowd from the sides are whispering flirtatiously about the two in their respective elements that made Lucy vomit inwardly in disgust. That's way too much of being a fan girl even by normal standards. She doesn't even get how those girls find the two hot and cool to their liking.

 _'Glad that you're not here Juvia...'_

* * *

 ** _Fairy Tail..._**

Juvia glanced quickly to the direction of the guild doors with her face, clouded with caution...

"Something wrong Juvia-chan?" Levy asked from beside the table, seeing the water mage having gotten alerted all of a sudden. Apparently, she sat with Juvia and Mirajane in a table with a gruesome background behind them, full of mayhem.

"I smell a love rival..." Juvia hissed.

"Oh come on Juvia-chan. Still thinking about Gray even though he's not here..."

"Juvia feels bad of what's to come..."

"Don't worry Juvia-chan. It's not like he was surrounded by fangirls..." Levy joked though unaware of the utterly lucky guess of what's really happening on the ice mage's situation. She yelped in fear as she saw Juvia suddenly gripped the wooden table and chunked it off with her two hands, her face seething in complete jealousy and anger.

"LOVE RIVALS!" She muttered in an angry tone as she could not help but think of the possibilities of her favorite ice mage getting hooked up with some random girl.

"C-Calm down Juvia-chan. There's no way it will happen right Mira-san?" Levy looked over the barmaid who was also sitting beside them, hoping to look a confirmation from her.

Unfortunately, Mirajane isn't in the mood to be telling any love issues right now. Normally, she would tease the girls by telling unnecessary stories about their love interests but now, she only wore a somber expression without any energy to join to her two friends' girly talks. Levy frowned in worry as she saw her state. She never seen Mira so depressed before. She usually wore a bright attitude towards others and never felt any sorrow. The last time she saw her like that was the supposed death of Lisanna that turns out to be false after Team Natsu returned with her from an unknown place called Edolas.

She saw her so overjoyed back then and never make out a sad look at everyone but now she couldn't find any reason for her to get so troubled. Thinking alone will not help her so she decided to ask.

"Mira-san. Are you alright? You look down..." Levy slightly leaned close to her. The barmaid managed to snap back from her inner thoughts upon hearing the bookworm's worried question.

"Oh Levy-chan.. S-Sorry about that. I was just spacing out..." She smiled bitterly but Levy knew better from her fake action. Something really is troubling her but she knew she can't pry onto other's private matters straightforwardly.

"Okay Mira-san... If you have any problems, you can ask me for help alright?"

"Uuunn... Thank you Levy-chan..." The barmaid made a light nod while faintly smiling.

"I gotta go now... Jet and Droy might be causing trouble again... I'll see you later Mira-san, Juvia-chan." Mira could only faintly smile as the Script mage stormed off the guild to find her two teammates.

Mira also stood up from her seat and began to walk over the bar counter to continue her job after her small break leaving the water mage in her delusions. Her face was still covered with a depressed state, like a sun that has lost its radiance. She sighed as she stared at the cup she was currently cleaning with a piece of clean rag in her hands and began to think deeply of her problem.

 _'I'm really stupid... Why did I ignored my true feelings back then...'_ She was irritated of her cowardly action back at Lisanna. She didn't tell her but passed it out as a form of joke between her and Natsu. She stopped mid-way cleaning the cup as her thoughts occupied her completely.

 _'Was my relationship with Natsu really just a joke?'_ Somehow, she flinched after thinking that one. It hurt her somehow in many ways, telling to herself that she wasn't really into love right now. Her heart is starting beat painfully as her thoughts progresses in her mind.

 _'No! I don't really want it to end like that.'_ Looking back at her time when they were kids, she thought Natsu as a clueless idiot who is very easy to trick and stray.. How she loved teasing him to the point of even whispering that she likes him which causes him to blush was one of the best times.. Mirajane also slightly blushed at that time. It came out from her mouth on the spur of a moment without careful thinking. She didn't know how but she felt better after saying that to him even it was for a tease.

If she'd had time to rethink back those words, she would really mean those words she said back then but it's too late.

It's been a long time and you cannot simply go back but she wanted more... She wanted more time to spend with him like he did to Lisanna.. She wanted to be the one who will raise Happy together, she wanted to spend time with him catching his favorite fish, she wanted to spend more time, comforting him when he thinks about his foster father, she wanted those precious memories and experience it with him.

Now she was starting to get selfish over things... Unknowingly, tears are starting to flow out from her eyes, making her to slightly widen in surprise.

"Eh? . . . . Tears. . . . Why? . . . ."

She quickly turned her back facing the board to hide her tears from others. She didn't want everyone to worry especially Elfman and Lisanna, knowing that her source of tears was really from her sister.

"Mira-chan! A beer please..." A random member called out from one of the tables near the counter, prompting her to return back to her work.

"Coming!" She quickly shouted in response without any shed of brightness from her perky behavior but he didn't notice it. She returned to back of the counter and began to fill an empty mug with booze.

 _'I guess I can spend whatever time I've left for Natsu when he comes back...'_ She tried to lighten herself with that fact even though it was little, she wanted everything in it. For all these years, she felt distant to him and she wanted to be close with him one more time.

"Here you go..."

"Thanks.."

Mirajane bowed gently with the plate in her hands before going back to the counter and tended to it.

 _'I wonder what you're doing now Natsu?'_ She looked at from the ceiling of the guild and felt empty. She never expected his absence would really make her feel like this. It felt lonely and sad for her. Even though it's just a couple of days for their job, she really missed his warmth, his grin, and his fiery attitude.

The guild was still in the midst of another brawl even without the two prominent features present in the event. Mira sighed for the second time before wiping off another cup and placed it into one of the cupboards behind her.

They sure are lively even at times like this.

She picked another cup and tried to wipe it off to pass off time when she heard a brief shout of her name.

"Watch out! Mira-san!"

The demon barmaid wasn't given the time to turn to the source of the voice or react to it when a flying mug came hitting her head hard and fell to ground unconscious. Her eyes spiraled from the dizziness of her head and can't stand up. A couple of guild members shrieked in horror as as they saw their lovable barmaid knocked out from the flying mug.

Not because of the fact they felt concern for her but because of the fact that no one's gonna serve them drinks, now that she's knocked out cold.

"WAAAHHH! MIRA-SAN IS DOWN! SOMEONE GET A HEALER! WE AIN"T GONNA GET DRINKS LIKE THIS!"

"WENDY-CHAN'S NOT HERE! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?"

All men shouted from all corners of the guild in distress as they came over to Mirajane and fanned the poor barmaid to give her fresh air.

"Kukukuku... It's seems it's time for me to take the stage." Gajeel chuckled from his table, having himself to have witnessed another guild mayhem. In an instant the guild lights turned off except for the stage which both guild members looked uncomfortably at the sight before them...

"I will sing a song for y'all. It's titled 'My Friend..' everyone." A couple of heads paled at the sight. Gajeel was dressed in his white suit with rock glasses on his eyes. He held on a lacrima-powered rock guitar on his hands and a mic positioned perfectly on his mouth..

But before the iron dragonslayer could utter a word for his song, a barrage of chairs and other wooden furniture were thrown at the stage. The people will not let any word come out from that dragonslayer.

"Don't let him sing... Don't let him utter a single word.. All for the sake of your lives, hurry!" A member shouted as an army of guild members banded together with the same conviction to stop the death song.

"Oi! Are you insulting me?" Gajeel felt a tick mark appeared from his forehead, having to hear all of the member's motive.

"Attack! Keep him down."

"Not until I get to sing on the stage idiots..." Gajeel put down his guitar before extending his iron hand and punched a nearby member.

"Bring it on!"

"ORYAA!"

"Real men fight with their own fists!"

Then the normal day of Fairy Tail continued with the guild members pitted into a choice of being beaten up with an iron smack or suffer a slow but painful death from a horrible singer that used to be the same person. Needless to say, no one's safe from the impending death combo Gajeel was giving to them.

* * *

 _ **Back at Raven's village...**_

Natsu and Gray knelt beside each other with bruises and bumps all over their body. Apparently, their little discussion didn't go unnoticed from the scarlet knight and resulted a heavy steel beating from the redhead herself. The rest of the team could not help since they're both caught red-handed and had to face the consequences.

"I believe I made myself rather clear..." Erza ordered with a stern look visible on her face, making the two mages to nod quickly out of fear.

"Yes..."

"Good. Don't let me catching you two again..." She walked back to her seat with the others together with the Selverion family who was sweating nervously at her fearful lectures. Well more specifically, Ferrix and Raven were shaking nervously. She had the same nature as Hikari. It might just be a mere coincidence that they shared the same attitude and strawberry cakes right?

Said woman smiled deviously at her family.

"Something wrong honey~" Ferrix jolted up almost immediately.

"N-No. Nothing's wrong... Everything's fine." He forced a smile with shaky movements at the face of his wife who was still wearing a cheerful yet devilish smile on her face.

"Okay honey~..."

"Honestly, those two really never change...I'm sorry for showing such rude behaviors done by them." Erza huffed as she went back to her seat with a steaming face. Hikari and the two boys looked at her in question.

"Do they really not stand each other? I can see them last night arguing. I thought it was some kind of friendly rivalry but they really are enemies considering the fact they're the opposite of each other's elements." Hikari pondered.

"Sadly, yes. I've been trying my best to make them acknowledge themselves as best friends while avoiding any ill actions at each other..."

"You've been having a hard time Erza-san..."

"Don't worry... I've gotten used by it Hikari-san. I'm doing my best to at least keep them from pulling each other's heads out."

"But they're amazing friends... Erza-san..." Hikari smiled.

"Yeah, Natsu-nii is awesome with his magic..." Raven joined in with a bright smile on his face, admiring the fire dragonslayer.

"Speaking of which, I'd like to speak with your friend Natsu for something..." Hikari spoke after her son's mentioning of his name. Erza titled her head in confusion but listened anyway.

"Okay sure." Erza nodded before calling over the dragonslayer to her who was still kneeling with Gray. Natsu was unsure of why he was called but complied before glancing over to his rival with a smug face and make out a "You're dead." type of expression on his face. He brushed it off and tried to think positive about it. As much as he feared Erza's wrath, he finds her precious and takes her lectures with no ill will, seeing that it will improve him.

He walked towards Erza and the Selverion family sitting beside each other while the rest of the team are on the other side.

"What is it Erza?" He asked casually, seemingly to dismiss her lecture earlier without any fear.

"Hikari was looking for you specifically. She wants to have a word with you..."

Natsu looked over the short, black-haired woman beside Erza who gave him a bright, beaming smile.

"Nice to meet you Natsu-kun... I'm Hikari. Raven's mother..."

"Hi. Uh, nice to meet you too." Natsu made hesitant answers back at the mother. He wasn't used conversing with people with formalities and such but since it was Raven's mother and Erza's presence behind him, he had to act out like they used to.

"I just wanted to say thank you for keeping son- I mean, my children from harm's way..."

"Well I did promise Raven to protect him and his family... I wouldn't call myself a Fairy Tail mage if I'm turning back on someone's promise..." Natsu grinned. Erza and the others around him were touched by his words and can smile warmly back at him.

It's just like him.

"You're a very nice person Natsu-kun. No wonder why my son looks up to you..."

"Well your son's pretty awesome too." Natsu chuckled, feeling easy to converse with them freely.

"Natsu-nii. Can you show my your magic again?" Raven stood up from his seat and went his way towards him with sparkling eyes.

"Okay, okay..." Natsu took a short breathe before letting out a small stream of flames from his mouth that shot upwards, giving off a warm feeling in its vicinity. It's not too intense but a perfect temperature as Raven and the others could feel the heat. It was then the flames began to shape into a Fairy Tail insignia mark, amusing the three Selverions. The flames burn bright in mid-air before dissipating.

"That was impressive Natsu-kun..." Ferrix remarked.

"It's nothing really..." Natsu sheepishly replied.

"He's just being modest. After all, he saved us countless times." Erza praised.

"Of course, no one would forget his triumph back at the Grand Magic Games against Sabertooth's Twin Dragonslayers." Hikari chuckled before getting a slight surprise from him and Erza.

"You knew all that?"

"Of course, even though it's been five years, people tend to tell tales of your magnificent battle. I was one of the people watching the games in those years." The black-haired woman revealed.

"I see..."

"So again Natsu-kun, thank you for saving the village and changing my son greatly I'd appreciate it."

"Don't mention it..." Natsu smiled at the Selverion couple before going back to his seat between Sara and Wendy.

The conversation soon continued between mages and the Selverions, talking about stuffs involving their lives, adventures and possibly secrets. Soon after, other villagers joined in, giving another set of celebration and fun with each other. Natsu was engaged in an eating contest with Gray which the Titania find it tolerable in her account as long as they don't cause trouble. People cheered at both mages as they began to gobble every food that was presented before them. Sara, Wendy and Lucy somehow enjoyed the event and went cheering for the two of them...

"Mirai-Oneechan is sure taking her time... Where is she Kaa-san?" Raven asked her mother beside him who was watching the event efore looking down on his son.

"She'll be here anytime. You know she is, a bit of a ditzy girl."

"Yeah..."

As the two conversed, they were interrupted by the shout of a referee from the game and announced the winner.

"Winner! Gray Fullbuster!" A couple of cheers sounded through the crowd as Gray pumped the air with his fist as he celebrated his victory.

"My win. Flame-Brain... That's two to one.."

"Tsk. Lucky bastard..." Natsu scoffed as he saw him gloat over his victory against him. It's just an eating contest, he can take him anytime with a duel. Knowing that he'll get nothing in his victory, Natsu walked away and returned to his seat, sulking. Happy and Sara who happened to have returned to their seats beside him patted him in reassurance.

"Natsu! Check out this fish. It's delicious..." Happy handed out a grilled fish from the table to which the dragonslayer accepted in response.

"Thanks Happy." He chomped off to eat and saw their faces smiling bright at him.

"He's just trying to cheer you up Natsu..."

"Well, he did enough. He's my partner after all." He grinned, looking back at the blue Exceed.

"So what are we gonna do now?"

"Dunno... Maybe lay off for awhile, it might feel bad for these guys if we leave early..."

"Guess we'll eat then..." Happy smiled cheerful as he took another plate of fish from the table and began to chew on it. Little by little, some of the teams are coming back to their seats with Natsu. Hikari and Ferrix also went back to join the whole team. There were people singing and dancing at their vicinity and they could see traditional dances from their beliefs that entertained people around them.

"Celebration seems have gone wild huh?" Ferrix spoke, gaining both of them to nod.

"Your people are very interesting... There's so much to learn from their beliefs and cultures."

"We're pretty isolated from the outside world. While seeing our beliefs quite new to you, we're intrigued by the culture of the outside world. Hikari's been only telling tales about it ever since moving in with me here..." He paused.

"...Everyone's having a good time because of it. Even Raven wanted to know more about the life outside the village."

"I see... Well he can visit us anytime. I'm sure the master wouldn't mind. Everyone's welcome in Fairy Tail."

"Thank you Erza-dono. If I had spare time, I might send Raven and Mirai to your care in Fairy Tail. I wanted to them to explore the world."

"Mirai?" Erza asked quizzically at the unknown person. Even some heads from the team tilted in confusion.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about her. Raven's sister, Mirai was the eldest. She's kind though a bit clumsy. She'll be back soon to join us. Apparently, she was one of the villagers tending to the fields for our food."

"I'd like to meet her."

"Well of course, I'm sure she'll become friends with you all." Hikari smiled warmly.

"Natsu, isn't that the girl we rescued last night?" The blue Exceed flew over to his head to rest while poking out a question for the pinkette.

"Don't remember but we did rescue someone last night right?" Natsu replied, clueless about what happened last night.

"That's 'her' Natsu."

Erza turned to the duo, hearing about their conversation.

"You knew her?" She asked curiously. But instead of Natsu answering her, Happy intervene and did the whole explanation. Lucy and the others joined in to listen the conversation as Happy elaborated every events that transpired last night at their rescue from chasing down two mages to defeating a scary swordsman. It took for the blue Exceed a few minutes to finish the whole story before going back at his partner.

"So that's what happened..."

"Well I guess you could say that..." Natsu nodded, seemingly able to remembering everything, thanks to Happy's retelling story.

"Where is she now?" Wendy asked having not caught sight of a long, black-haired girl around her vicinity.

"She must be working by the fields. She'll be back soon." Hikari repeated before remembering something.

"By the way, I was hoping to talk to you Natsu-kun when Mirai gets here okay?"

"Sure but why?" Came a quizzical reply.

"It's a secret." She cooed before standing up and walk away towards the fields to pick her daughter up. For some reason, Erza felt cautious around this Mirai girl. She noticed how secretive Raven's mother was after that little ordeal. She might be overthinking it a bit but she had to be cautious.

"What was that all about?" Lucy tried to ask Ferrix.

"Don't know either... Let's just celebrate until then when she gets back." Both people returned to their previous ventures. Natsu had been eating another set of foods placed upon him for the umpteenth time, Gray was still reveling from his victory over his rival, Sara and Wendy talked more about each other and the village while Happy and Charle shared their food on a small plate infront of the two dragonslayers.

"What happened to the dark guild's master anyway?" Lucy asked the older Selverion, having remembered about the dark guild that was defeated last night.

"We handed him over to the Council's hands together with Erza-dono. It might be dangerous for us if the leader managed to get away. He would likely take revenge after all what's happened."

"That's true but still, I've never thought you would easily defeat a guild master Erza." The blonde celestial mage turned over to the redhead in amazement.

"It wasn't much of a big deal... It's only a sub-category dark guild apart from the other higher-ups..."

"Well Erza is pretty strong. She isn't gonna go down like that." Natsu butted in. Erza slight blushed and gave the pinkette a warm smile.

"Natsu is also strong... Remember that time when we, together with Wendy tag-teamed that guy?" Sara reminded, also joining the group.

"Natsu-san did go overboard though." Wendy followed getting Sara to nod in agreement.

"You can't stop him... That's just like him... I'd be surprised if he didn't destroy as single house in one day." Lucy sighed in a dismissive manner.

Everyone knew how Natsu works on his job and that's why some of his teammates can't leave him alone on a job because of the consequences that lay ahead of that. Constant complaints are directed towards Master who was almost at the brink of fainting not because of the complaints but the value of jewels required to each compensation. Sure, his brats earn money and the guild also benefits from getting enough requests but in the end, he would have to pay for the damages of his guild and his brats' troubles. Not to mention about the money needed to buy him more booze to enjoy life.

Booze is the only thing that kept him enjoying throughout his life. It helps him relieve stress but also pain at the same time when he unknowingly spoke about lewd things and Erza happen to be in the area. It was a disaster and he made sure not to do it while she's around.

"Oh hi everyone! We're back!" Hikari's voice voiced behind them, revealing the Selverion mother and a black-haired female teen same as Sara and Wendy's age. The length of the girl's hair was the complete opposite of her mother for she had long black hair that cascaded down from her shoulders and at her back. Unlike Erza, her bangs aren't swayed in one side and her locks are naturally dangling above her forehead. Hey dark brown eyes are seen fixed to the group but only for a brief moments as they saw her twitching uncomfortably, looking at the sides, unable to maintain a straight look towards them.

"Oh good to see you made it back Hikari, Mirai." Ferrix smiled as he saw the rest of his family coming towards them.

"Onee-chan!" Raven ran in joy as he caught sight of his sister.

"Hey Raven..." Mirai spoke in a mild and warm tone as she hugged his little brother.

"We've been waiting for you onee-chan. Let's go sit and eat. Everyone is waiting for you..."

Mirai gave a quick nod of thanks as she and her mother went over to their seats at the table and joined with the team. Erza and the girls looked at her intently as the observed her features. They had to admit, she had quite a curvaceous body figure that rivaled that of the redhead. Her hips are not that ample as it was perfectly fitted with her body structure. Her fair skin was also observed as well and her face enveloped in uneasiness in this situation made them slightly envious. She acts like a proper maiden in front of them.

The black-haired teen slightly twitch as she could feel she was being examined by 4 pairs of eyes directed towards her.

She just wished they stop looking at her like she's some object worth craving for.

"How's the fields Mirai?" Her father asked curiously making the girl to sigh inwardly having herself get pulled into the conversation.

"It's good. Everything's back to normal Otou-san."

"Glad to hear it."

"Yo!" A simple word voiced across the table making Mirai's heart to jump in surprise. They all turned towards Natsu who was casually calling her attention.

"You're that girl last night... Nice to meet you..." Natsu made his signature grin towards the girl who slightly twitched uncomfortably, unable to start a conversation between them because she was shy to do so.

"N-N-Nice to meet you... I'm Mirai Selverion..." Came a meek reply.

"Natsu Dragneel... Fairy Tail mage..."

"Natsu... Be gentle... You're scaring her.." Erza reminded with a slightly stern look at the dragonslayer who realized it.

"Is that so?"

"I-I-It's nothing really. I'm not just used with new people..." A couple of heads turned towards each other. Hikari and Ferrix smiled at the situation before them.

"You see everyone, Mirai was a shy person when it come to strangers and new faces that comes around so please, take care of her..." Hikari slightly bowed her head down in respect.

"It's okay Hikari-san. We understand..." Wendy paused before looking at Mirai.

"I'm Wendy Marvell. It's nice to meet you Mirai-san."

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia."

"Gray..." The ice mage simply spoke out only his name earning himself a jab to the stomach by the scarlet who introduced herself soon afterwards together with Happy and Charle.

"I'm Sara Hatsumi. I'm a new member of Fairy Tail..."

"So you just joined into their guild Sara-san?"

"Yes..."

"That's amazing..."

Seeing their daughter finally opening up to the others, Hikari and Ferrix smiled in satisfaction. It's a good thing for them to be able to introduce her to people at her age. They wanted what's best for their children after all. Even Raven was starting to join in with their conversation much to everyone's delight. It's not too often for the two children to see new faces around here since they never go beyond their village though in Raven's case, it was only brief and met people like Natsu on the road. To be specific, he was saved and that led them to their encounter with each other.

Same could be applied to Sara as well, meeting her two friends was the most greatest thing in her life. They served as a turning point of her life, a milestone to proceed further more to the future ahead. She was glad to have met them. She was glad she was able to meet Fairy Tail and taste the craving warmth she longed for with her new friends.

As the friendly atmosphere between their children and Team Natsu continued for awhile, Hikari remembered what she was about to do after their introduction.

"Oh, now that Mirai is here, I have something to discuss with you Natsu-kun..." Hikari spoke bright getting their attention diverted back to her. For some reason, she could somehow relate very much like Mirajane. Her perkiness and bright self is imminent similar that of Mirajane. Not that the whole team has a problem with except for Erza who knew Mirajane since childhood. She hated everything when she boasted and mocked for being better than her. Even though, she's changed, her usual behavior actually sticks out too often to Natsu that annoyed her to no end.

"Me?"

"What is it to discuss with him?" Erza asked, even Ferrix and his two children were curious about it since they don't know anything from Hikari.

"Well, it's nothing big really. It's more like a small favor..." Erza was starting to get uneasy.

"What small favor?" Mirai could not help but ask too since she knew her mother was always secretive about things. Hikari stopped and took a brief breathe before standing from her seat smiled warmly at the bewildered Natsu.

"Natsu, would you like to be Mirai future husband?" She smiled brightly, unaware of the fact that she just initiated the biggest shock of the rest of team's minds after revealing her intentions to them.

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." A long wave of silence replaced the bright atmosphere, they were all giving as both sides were still on the process of sinking that little information into their heads although Natsu was the only one who innocently tilted his head in confusion having to have heard a unique word from the short-haired woman.

"Future husband?" A large question mark appeared above the oblivious dragonslayer's head as he can't seem to recall the word before.

Ferrix and Raven were shocked, Lucy and the girls including Mirai stood frozen and went still and Gray choked on his cold tea, probably might have ended his life if he didn't happen to be more careful around his drink but still, it was the greatest shock of his life after hearing such a blasphemous idea that he had self-described.

I mean, come on, really? Natsu becoming a future husband? That idiotic, dense, tin-canned, scatterbrained son of a dragon. No way. Not happening in a million years. Who would even like an idiot like him?

Said idiot probably attracted few girls which has not yet known by all.

But here he is, witnessing a seemingly impossible proposal from a family and the insurmountable odds on his friends' faces. What's worse it came from a parent so that kinda creates engagements.

Not long after, the girls and the whole Selverion family shared a very same shout of disbelief, embarrassment and shock that somehow caught some attention from the villagers around them.

"WWHHHHAAAATTTTT!"

It was also not long before the girls especially Mirai began to blush madly at Hikari's sudden proposal to her and Natsu. The only one with a different reaction was a blue Exceed, smirking deviously at the sidelines. Now that can't be good.

"W-W-W-What d-d-do you mean future husband?" Erza stuttered in disbelief and embarrassment as her strong figure suddenly came crushing down, showing her immature side once more when indulged by the lure of romantic smut novels.

"K-Kaa-san. W-What are you saying that all of a sudden?" Mirai could not help but react embarrassingly from her mother's decision.

"I thought it about myself for some time since I found him very suitable for you Mirai..."

"That doesn't mean he should get married with... her..." Sara interjected.

"Ahh~ No. Not that...yet." Hikari smirked, getting the three girls to form tick marks over their heads at the short-haired woman's sly grin.

"Wait a moment there honey. I think this is a bit too much." Ferrix tried to dissuade his wife about the decision. It also came as a shock for him for her to propose something like that.

"Ah come on, Natsu is a strong person plus a gentleman... Oh how I remember that moment when he held her in his arms like a princess..." Hikari smiled though it came a bewilderment from Mirai and Raven since they didn't saw her last night when Natsu and Happy tried to save her from those dark mages.

"Kaaaaaa-saaaan! ! !"

Now the girls are starting to hate her. Unaware of her that an intimidating aura was already coming out from the scarlet knight... Hikari's sure have the audacity to anger the Titania with words alone although she was aware of it. She's not afraid. Other members like Happy and Charle could only watch in amusement from the situation with the former having plans of his own at the current situation.

Before anything bad could ever escalate, Hikari came towards Natsu and leaned close to his face with a cheerful smile on her face.

"So what do you say Natsu-kun?" Erza stopped her impending rage as she looked worriedly at the dragonslayer. Knowing him, he might consider it because he always accept any form of contract and proposal if there's fight and food involved though in this case was different since he was being asked for the hand of their daughter.

"Eh?"

"Are you going to accept the proposal?"

Even Sara and Wendy began to look at him with concern. Everyone just stopped their bickering as their eyes all diverted to the dragonslayer who was still confused about what's happened.

"To be honest, I don't know what this future husband thing is."

"Oh, in that case, allow me to elaborate... You see what I'm talking about is an engagement between two families for their children's future. If by future, I mean, getting your children know each other better and eventually get themselves married."

"Hoh. Like a girlfriend and boyfriend?" Natsu's head sparkled in delight. Erza and the others are unsure whether he likes the idea or just plain stupid about it.

"Yes. Like that.."

"Sure..." After that quick answer, the whole team floored while Mirai was blushing madly again.

"Really?"

"Why not? I have many girl-friends out there. There's Erza, Lucy, Wendy, Sara, Mira, Levy-"

"Wait!" Hikari momentarily stopped after hearing too many of his girlfriends. He must be referring to his female friends. The mages who were down on the floor immediately rose up in relief. He was just telling about them not the actual meaning of the word of it. Their relief was short-lived as Hikari began to continue her plans.

"What I mean is, wife and husband... You know, two loving people married to each other..." It only took Natsu a few seconds to realize what she really meant...

"Aaaahh~~ That..." He pondered. The team wore conflicted looks as they saw Natsu finally understood the situation. There might be a chance for him to accept it.

"So what's it going to be? Do you want to take Mirai as your future wife?" Even though it's just a question, it sounded like a proposal of marriage with Hikari being the priest and all. Anyway, the situation is getting more funny and problematic and they don't how will it turn out.

Natsu stood there with his face shadowed. After all the mishaps happening around them, he was putted under a choice of choosing the proposal or not. All waited from the response of the dragonslayer who was still standing before Hikari awaiting her an answer. A few moments sooner, Natsu finally decided and looked at Hikari with a serious expression.

"I'm sorry Hikari-san but I can't accept your request..." His words sounded from the ears of nearby people including his whole team and the Selverions.

"I see..." Hikari let out a crest-fallen expression as she heard those words from the dragonslayer.

"It's not because I didn't like her or anything... I actually wanted to befriend her too because she looks a very trusting friend to me..."

"Then why did you reject?"

"Because I'm not strong enough..." Natsu solemnly replied getting the whole team to widen in surprise. This is not the Natsu they knew. For some reason, he was able to sound like a mature person. The way he deals with situations like this are that beyond that of his oblivious nature. They also took a careful thought about what he'd said to her.

"What are you talking about Natsu-kun? You protected Mirai..."

"That still doesn't make me suited for her hand..." He paused and smiled sincerely before looking up to the sky in wonder.

"My father once taught me that... you have to get to know with each other first before going into such lengths. Meetings forms friendship, friendships strengthen bonds and bonds create love for each other. Those things are what keeps me going forward and become stronger in order for me to protect those precious bonds. Same goes with Raven and Mirai." He smiled warmly at the two children with the older sibling blushing from such sweet words.

"Plus, I have to get myself to know her more right?"

Erza and the others only stared at him in astonishment. Those words came directly from Natsu himself. So sincere and heartwarming at the same time. Even for an idiotic dragonslayer like him, he was charming enough to spoke out such sweet words. That's just who he is. He greatly cares for his friends' safety and happiness that he would go such lengths to bring them back. And he had done it many times with them. He never gave up and always gives them hope even at more dire times.

Hikari understood Natsu's reason. She finally understood it all. He was being sincere and caring for them and her family.

"I understand Natsu... It seems like it's rather too early for me to suggest such a thing. Sorry for troubling you too much." She bowed sincerely getting the Natsu to sheepishly return back to his old self.

"It's really nothing really. I don't find it quite hard or anything."

"I should've considered first your relationship with each other since you two only have met. Friendship comes first indeed." She nodded.

"Don't worry Hikari-san. I consider Mirai as a friend already. She is nice and kind. She always cares for her family which I found great about her..." Said girl again blushed in embarrassment. Even though it's a compliment, Erza and the others couldn't let their guard down.

"Then let me reassess my proposal again. Would you like to be her fiance?" The group went down to the floor once again, this time together with Ferrix and the Selverion siblings. She still isn't gonna give up on that? That's just as same as her first proposal earlier!

"What is a fiance?"

"Fiance is a man engaged to a girl to a marriage though in this case however, the two individuals have to form friendship first before entering to that kind of relationship."

 _'She's making it up...'_

Natsu stared wide as he learn two unique words at one day. What's more they're pretty interesting in his account. Erza and the others stood up, regaining their composure from another shocking proposal.

 _'Like he'll accept it... He already told his reasons though.'_ was the thought inside the minds of three girls who were wearing smug faces from the sidelines.

"Sure... why not?"

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." Another silence followed.

"Well that escalated quickly..." Gray spoke, having himself unfazed at the answer. He was tired really from this comedic exchange and only passed it off as some form of entertainment in his mind.

"Great then that's a promise Natsu-kun. Make sure you keep your promise..."

"Sure... I'll look forward in befriending you Mirai." Natsu looked over to the flustered girl who was left dumbfounded at the sight before her. Her mother actually deceived the poor dragonslayer. What a troublesome mother she has.

It was then Natsu's cheeks were pulled on both respective sides by Sara and Wendy with the latter whining in annoyance.

"Uuuooo... Naaattssuuu-saaan..."

"Eiii- te te te te te te te! It hurts!" Natsu shouted in pain as Sara and Wendy continued to pull his cheeks without anyone of them letting go. Erza facepalmed at the situation. She might have to give him a better lecturing for accepting an important proposal just like that and how he was so easily fooled by the woman.

"I'm disappointed Natsu..." Sara frowned as she closed her eyes in disappointment while leaving her hand pinching his cheek..

"Again, why was Sara and Wendy involved in it?" Gray asked.

"I think they likkkeee him..." Happy joined in as he let out his infamous impression to the group.

"Shut it Happy..."

* * *

 _ **At the entrance of the village...**_

It was already in the afternoon as Natsu and the group waved at the crowd behind them, departing from the village. People waved their farewells back at departing team who have saved them from evil hands. A few faces turned sad and somber as the group beginning to walk farther. Natsu happily beamed at the villagers, mainly focused on the Selverion family who were also bidding their farewells at him.

"Goodbye Natsu-kun. Come visit us anytime..." Hikari shouted from afar enough to be heard from the dragonslayer.

"Sure. Take care Hikari-san, Ferrix-san..." He paused before looking at the siblings who wore somber expression. They were quite saddened at the fact that they're leaving. It didn't cross their minds before and it seems they expected it. Natsu saw them and began to shout to them.

"Take care Raven. Look after you sister. Even you're young, you need to be strong for her alright?"

Raven heard him shouting before going back to return a reply.

"Yes. Natsu-nii."

"We'll meet again don't worry... It's not that far.. You can always find me in Fairy Tail."

"I will do my best Natsu-nii." With Raven finally cheered up, Natsu turned over his attention to the black-haired teen.

"MIRAI!" The Selverion sibling looked at him with wonder after being called from afar.

"Smile for me! We'll meet again next time..."

Mirai didn't speak at that moment. She stood there in happiness and smiled back at the pinkette. And for some reason, her tears are starting to flow from her eyes.

"It's a promise Natsu-san." She whispered as she held unto her chest with her cheeks tinted pink. Even though it's just a whisper, Natsu managed to pick it up with his enhanced hearing and nodded.

 _'Sure...'_

"Natsu-kun. Don't forget our promise!" Hikari cooed as she reminded him of their discussion earlier. The Erza and the two dragonslayers, twitched in irritation at the reminder.

"Kaaa-san!"

"Okay that's enough honey..."

Natsu watched at the happy family in satisfaction. He had a feeling that they will meet again.

"SURE!" Not before long he said that, Sara and Wendy are pulling his ears in irritation.

"Ite te te te te te... Okay I give up!" Natsu winced in pain as the two let go after apologizing and gingerly touched his ears for any damages.

"It's time to go back in Fairy Tail everyone." Erza spoke before lifting her overloaded luggage. Oh yeah, they completely forgot the luggage. They had to wonder though, where was it placed after the whole situation last night? It didn't magically appeared out of thin air now right?

The team walked back on the road with both teammates began to converse as usual. It took two hours for them to return to the train station and Natsu was already on the ground, clutching his tummy and mouth as his nausea came back to him...

He'd completely forgot about the train...

Erza didn't want to waste time on such little matters and just shoved Natsu inside and went on the way. The train closed its door as the lacrima-powered engines whirred underneath them and began to move slowly that made Natsu even worse in his state. Wendy had to cast her modified Troia at Natsu who had thanked her afterwards and began to celebrate. The group talked once again as the train moved along the railways towards Magnolia. It didn't take long for the whole team to get tired as they happily slept from their seats waiting their arrival on Magnolia.

Natsu sat there at the window staring at the moving background and watched the scenery.

"Can't sleep?" Sara asked from his side who happen to be awake as well.

"Nah, just not tired...You?"

"Same..." She replied as she held unto a sleeping Happy in her arms and gently stroked his cat ears at the made him stir a little from the gentle touch. Lucy, Wendy and Erza sat across them sleeping peacefully while Gray sat unto a vacant seat across the aisle enjoying the free space he had. Natsu and Sara sat beside each other with the latter having the blue Exceed in her care.

"You matured Natsu." Sara suddenly replied while staring at open space.

"What do you mean?"

"You're clueless and a bit idiotic at most times..."

"Gee thanks for the insult..."

"But when I heard what you've said back at the village, it made me change my point of view of you a bit."

"Ah about that..."

"Even though we've just met, it was enough for me to see you change so much..." She smiled.

"Thanks again I think... Igneel taught everything about life even though he's such a strict father."

"Unnn..." Sara nodded before feeling a sense of drowsiness from her eyes and began to fall asleep. She slowly rested her head at Natsu's shoulders to rest which the dragonslayer didn't mind and let her lean on him.

"Would you introduce me to Igneel when you found him?" She requested.

"Sure... But make sure you introduce me to Zephy too."

"Fufufu... How many times should you say that? Alright. I'll tell her..." She chuckled before smiling in satisfaction as she let her head feel the warmth of his body. It felt safe and secure. Hey eyes slowly closed as the mixture of his warmth and the sleepy feeling finally made her sleep beside Natsu. The fire dragonslayer noticed her slumber as she made faint breathes coming from her mouth. He slowly reached out his hand and gently stroked her locks which are misplaced from her position and smiled contently before looking back at the window.

"Goodnight everyone..."

* * *

 **A/N: Yow guys. Chapter 8 stops here... Now, we're done with a major arc regarding Sara's introduction... We're off to Mira-san...It would be minor arcs though containing two to three chapters for each girl. That would be shown at the next chapter. Look forward to it :)**

 **And as you know, another OC has been introduced in the story. You know her... It's Mirai Selverion..She's the next harem candidate hehe. She will not make her appearance at the later chapter since she's like in the far away village from Magnolia. She will make her next cameo appearance in the later chapters not as near as this one so it might take lots of chapters for her next coming. Anyway, if you liked the new OC, you can send me a PM of agreement to have her come up on the early chapters. That is, if I had more PMs.**

 **So next chapters will be the start of the girls' relationships with Natsu. Look forward to it :)**

 **You thoughts on this chapter? Leave a review. Have you found this interesting? Leave a fav or even follow it. It's common courtesy. I'd appreciate it.**

 **On the start of Chapter 11, I would be leaving my replies on the reviews on the story so it won't be so hard for me to sift it all through it. Again, gonna have a one day rest for my tooth before resuming back again. I am currently working on this solely up to Chapter 10 so don't worry about the updates. They would be more faster than my usual update schedules.**

 **That's all for now, See ya guys next chapter and stay awesome :) - PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **P.S. I'm starting to like NaMi... Kya!... (clears throat*)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	9. A Demon's Request

**A/N: Hey guys.. wiErD here... I'm back again for another chapter and we're off to the first girl in the story which also becomes my 2nd new favorite girl, Mira :)**

 **NaMi!** **NaMi!** **NaMi!** **NaMi!**

 **Okay let's be honest here, Actually, I will continue this story solely for some quite time and leave the other story on hold because I'm very interested on how this story will play out in the future. So a little change will take place: No stopping at chapter 10, I'll continue in this further as long as I can get and finish it :) That alright?**

 **Enjoy guys and Happy Reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor its characters. Again, I was just toying with them..**

* * *

 **\- A Demon's Request -**

"So what am I doing here again?" Natsu spoke confusingly as he found himself in a middle of a fountain at the plaza of Magnolia with Mirajane clinging on his arm affectionately. Her smile radiated back at him which made him slightly blush in the process. Also what's more helping him like that, is that two soft mounds of something soft is pressed on his arm upon her clinging which didn't do him any good in his current situation.

Sure, he was dense but he had every aspect of a real man should be such as hormones and such. Though, he can easily shove it off if food is called upon his stomach or a fight for his fists.

Mirajane was wearing a white dress with a frilly skirt that reached only in her knees. It has intricate designs of wavy patterns that circled through her waist and to her chest. Two straps are tied from her top to her back. She seemingly hold on a white purse on her left shoulder as she walked with the confused dragonslayer.

"Umm..." Mirajane stopped for a moment as she plays with her fingers like an innocent child beside him which somehow found Natsu to be cute in mysterious ways.

"You're going to be my boyfriend for awhile..." She let out a bright smile as she lightly traced her finger unto his cheek that made Natsu blush again.

Mirajane sure has ways on how to make him flustered. What's more, her outfit fits her bright attitude perfectly and some boys and onlookers are starting to look jealous around them. Well, she was one of the hottest woman who reign at the top in the Sorcerer's Weekly Magazine and having yourself accompanied by her as her boyfriend was a dream come true for them though in Natsu case however, he finds it new and surreal to him since she really asked him out of all people.

"But why pick me?" Natsu asked curiously, still don't get the fact of why he was picked personally, there were tons of other boys out there who handles this kind of thing more proficiently than him. Date was still a foreign word for him even reading much of Lucy's cliche stories.

"Because you're the only the one suited for me~" She cooed in a very sweet voice that confused Natsu even more.

"What's that suppose to mean and what is the reason for picking me?"

"Hmmm. Let me see... I don't know.. I just felt like choosing you on my free will... Is it that bad for me to choose you? How cruel Natsu-kun..." Mira made a fake tearful version of herself as she cried over the corner.

"It's not bad at all. I don't mind at all... I'm just asking for a reason..." Natsu tried to cheer her up until Mira return to her usual bright attitude to him and poke out her tongue teasingly.

"Tee-hee~ I'm just joking Natsu.."

"What does that even mean?"

"Okay, how about this, I will treat you the most delicious meat and fish offered by the store nearby if we start our date." Upon saying that, Natsu's eyes flared up in excitement.

"Really?"

"It's true... It's my treat. Eat anything you want.." She smiled warmly as she inched closer towards Natsu's side affectionately.

"Awesome, let's get our date started Mira." Natsu quickly sprinted a few paces ahead of her. Mirajane smiled in delight as she got him into his usual self. It was then Natsu returned back to her and shyly offered his hand before her.

"Umm. What is it Natsu?"

"Well since it's our date, I think I should be the one accompanying you along the trip since it's natural for a boy to lead the girl right?" Natsu replied with his cheeks tinted pink out of embarrassment. He was able to remember one important fact about dates from Lucy on his mind and this is the best thing to do for her.

Mirajane could only smiled at him with cheeks also tinted in deep red at the suggestion.

"Thank you Natsu. You're really are a gentleman..." She accepted his hand and held it together with him as they happily walked their way towards the first destination.

* * *

 ** _Before the date...30 minutes earlier..._**

The guild was in a dire situation, chairs are thrown everywhere, people get injured and gain broken bones from the fight and most of all, Natsu lay sleeping on a nearby table alone, seemingly tired and exhausted that gave the whole guild the shock of their lives because of this.

Why?

Of course, the fire dragonslayer who always brings destruction everywhere he goes and the one who always start out a fight inside the guild was currently resting. No way, he would take a break from the fights whether it may be small or big enough to his liking. And absolutely no way for him to excuse himself for being tired, depressed or bored to join the fray.

But here he is, lay sitting on a table with his head lying flat on the hard, wooden table with a lifeless expression. They don't know the reason why and they didn't want to know because it might probably be a meaningless reason.

 _'They left me...well shit...'_ He thought out blankly as his gloomy face gave the people watching him a sweatdrop on their foreheads.

Apparently, Gray went on a mission with Juvia just after returning back to the guild, Lucy went to Crocus to have her book publish there and to give her work more attention which is very priceless in his account, Erza was called upon the Magic Council concerning about the dark guild they'd just recently defeated and she said that she was asking a personal favor of dispatching few Council soldiers to Raven's village for their protection.

He could consider Erza's excuse as relevant and quite necessary since it was very reasonable for her to go out and tell the Council about Raven's village. At least he's relieved that Raven and his family are safe. She said she would be back for the next two days so it might take awhile for her to return. Not to mention her promise of accompanying her to the cake shop to buy her strawberry cakes might be postponed for awhile after the whole incident.

And lastly, Happy went together with Sara, Wendy and Charle to buy more things for the former's room. His Exceed told him that they might take awhile since they would be going to another town to buy more suitable furniture for Sara's taste. Although, it's just going to take for awhile, he can't stand himself for not having any plans to do for today.

And because of that, he felt dispirited and depressed because he didn't have anything to do. Joining in the fight without the stripper would be meaningless and tiring. Elfman wasn't much of a man to be worth fighting with. He didn't like Gajeel either and for some reason, he doesn't find him interesting to challenge. Laxus wasn't around together with the Thunder God Tribe and he doesn't give damn of where he is.

'Uhhhhh. I wish I had something to do...' He made a light groan as he shifted his head at the sides hoping to end this annoying feeling already.

As his thoughts unnerved him, he heard a faint clinking sound of two glasses collided to each other, prompting him to lift his head up and saw Mirajane offering him a warm smile and a bottle of water.

"Want some?" She asked sincerely.

"I guess I could have some... Thanks Mira." He smiled contently as he happily accepted the glass of water and drank it up in between gulps.

"You're welcome... Mind if I sit?"

"Sure..."

Mirajane sat beside him for some reason which he didn't mind. After all, he needed some company especially right now and Mira came at a right time.

"You seemed down, what's troubling you?" The barmaid asked.

"Nah it's nothing, just tired really..." He lied but she knew better.

"You're lying Natsu... Come on, tell me.." She pressed on the conversation, clearly stating that she's worried. Natsu sighed, forgetting the fact that Mirajane is very good in noticing someone's feelings just by looking at their faces. His expression was easily a dead giveaway though, since most of the guild noticed it beforehand.

"Okay... I just felt... lonely..."

"Lonely? That's pretty new coming from you... You always fight around with others whenever you get a chance..." She mused with a slight surprise look on her face.

"Well the stripper's not here and I'm not quite fine into fights right now. It's just feels exhausting... I don't know why but I just feel unsure of what to do today..." He frowned. Mirajane watched him stare in to space with a solemn expression on his face.

"Where are the others?"

"Gray went on a job with Juvia, Lucy went to Crocus, Erza went to the Council and Happy went together with Wendy and Sara to buy stuff." He elaborated each of his team's separate tasks in a monotone that made Mirajane to sweatdrop at him.

"What about you? Don't you have anything else to do today..." She tried to ask but was immediately answered with a disapproving nod from the fire dragonslayer. Another fight broke out in their background as Natsu simply sighed for the first time in his life and Mirajane managed to witness it firsthand.

"I'm really bored..." Natsu yawned as he stretched his arms wide before lying down again with his limp body on the table.

"Is it okay for me to accompany you in the mean time?" She suggested getting Natsu to look at her with wonder.

"Thanks Mira. I needed it..."

"Okay wait for me. I'll just shift my schedules for a long break okay?"

"Okay..." He smiled sincerely before seeing her off to the bar counter. Mirajane sure knows how to accompany him in times like this. It's like she acted as some sort of support for him to lean on whenever he is depressed and she was perfectly the one able to do it. It didn't took enough for him to wait as he caught sight of the white-haired barmaid making her way towards him. The plate she was carrying was gone and she wore her usual outfit of a maroon dress with a pleated skirt and a pink ribbon tied unto her chest.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Natsu." She apologized as she came into view.

"It's alright... I don't really mind waiting..." Natsu paused as he smiled warmly at Mirajane who sat beside him.

"... Plus, I'd really appreciate it for you to accompany me. I hope I didn't trouble you too much on this." He continued.

"I-It's nothing much Natsu. I just wanted to help you from your problems."

"Thanks again Mira. You're the only one who always look out for me even though you never come with us on a job..."

"Well, I'd like to come along with you on a job but I can't because I have duties here..." She spoke sadly at the fact.

"True, but there's definitely some way to get you back and perform jobs with us..." Natsu tried to help until Mirajane had started to sound more like herself as she began to tease him.

"Hoh, does my little Natsu miss me already?" She cooed teasingly at the fire dragonslayer who only titled his head in response.

"What do you mean by that?" Instead of answering him back, Mirajane suddenly went back in thought of her time with Natsu when they were still kids.

"Come to think of it, we never even took a job together just the two of us back then..."

"Well it's because you're very scary that time..." Natsu huffed before shrugging his shoulders only for the barmaid to giggle at him.

"That was a long time ago and I changed when... you know..." Mirajane tried remember back but Natsu cut her off.

"It's okay, you don't need to continue... You're still wonderful in different ways..." Unaware for Natsu, Mira began to blush at the compliment.

"You really think so?"

Natsu only nodded in response. They stopped talking for a moment as Mirajane looked away in embarrassment while Natsu somehow noticed his words and looked at the other direction. It was pretty awkward as the atmosphere around them is filled with silence apart from the rest of the guild's antics

"Do you still like the old me in the past?" She suddenly asked getting Natsu to turn over to her and killed their silent atmosphere in the process..

"What do you mean?"

"Do you miss my old self... When I was still like... scary before?" She finally looked at his gaze with a worried sentiment.

"Well, I guess I kinda miss you too back then... Even though you tease me countless times, it was fun times and I would laugh everytime you and Erza fight.." Natsu chuckled..

"Same goes for you and Gray. It really amuses me..." Mira returned the favor as she begins to giggle back at the fire dragonslayer. And at that moment, Natsu was back to himself, she was glad that she was able to help him return back to his usual self. She really missed that toothy grin where she'd always witness inside whenever he's around. She saw him happily enjoying his conversation with her and felt at peace. Come to think of it, this is the first time they talked to each other alone after all those years and this is the first she was able to cheer him up.

Usually, it was him cheering her up even going back to their childhood. He always comes around and innocently cheer her up whenever she get lost in a bet with the redhead. He also cheered her back at that time when her sister supposedly died on their job. She knew how much he was devastated when Lisanna died because they were close friends and raise Happy together.

Now her heart is starting to ache once more.

She didn't know why but she felt something pierce her heart in whole in just mere thoughts about him and Lisanna. It was then she was starting to hate herself for able to feel that way towards them.

She gripped the cloth at her chest tightly as her thoughts flooded her back after the whole conversation that was enough for the fire dragonslayer to notice it.

"Are you alright Mira? Is something wrong?" Natsu asked worried as he saw her gripping her chest like she was hurt. Not to mention, her bright face was instantly replaced with a troubled expression.

"I-It's nothing Natsu. Don't worry..." She looked away as she tried to bring back her bright attitude at the worried dragonslayer. She didn't want to worry him for her sake. But Natsu was as persistent as she is.

"You're lying... I can see it." Natsu spoke seriously while wearing a worried expression on his face. It was quite obvious that Natsu really wanted to help despite how much he would delve into other's private matters.

"It's really nothing Natsu. You don't have to worry yourself..." She insisted as Natsu reluctantly complied with it but he definitely knew something's wrong.

Another bout of silence followed.

They were silent for a moment before Natsu began his own conversation.

"Where's Lisanna by the way?" Mirajane slightly cringed but replied right away without showing her discomfort.

"She went on a job with Elfman. They might be back tomorrow."

"I see. Aren't you feeling a bit lonely about it?" Natsu asked curiously since he rarely saw Mirajane together with her siblings. He knows it's probably because of her duties as the head waitress but she could still make plans on how to keep it out of her way with their time together. Meanwhile, Mirajane pondered in thought about what he just said. She never actually thought about it like that since there are others to keep her company.

"Now that you think about it, I never actually thought myself like that..."

"Really?"

"Uuunnn... I wasn't really lonely about it because there are friends that show comfort for me when I feel that way... Like right now..." She mumbled her last part as Natsu titled his head in confusion about it but quickly dismissed it and smiled warmly at her with toothy grin.

"I'm glad... If you were lonely, I would've come to you also and do the same. We're friends and families right? We should look out for each other." Natsu replied.

Mirajane suddenly widen her eyes at that thought.

Friend is such a word to describe their relationship and Mirajane suddenly thought about that fact between her and Natsu. That's right, they're just friends and they look after each other but she knew it will only go in that way alone without any changes in their perspectives between each other's feelings. She wanted to become more. Something more than friendship could give.

She bit her lip as her face was starting to feel uneasy. There was still another reason for her to approach Natsu at a time like this.

"Natsu!" Mirajane called out, stopping him from his conversation earlier which she failed to listen, and looked at her with a puzzled look.

"... Will you accompany me later at the fountain in the plaza? I have a personal favor to ask, would you mind listening to me after we meet up there?" She asked as she kept her gaze straight at Natsu despite the embarrassing feeling she felt from the request.

"Sure... I don't mind. I don't want to lie here waiting for them to come back..." He spoke casually getting the white-haired barmaid to smile in delight.

"Then I'll meet you later by the fountain... Don't be late okay?" She cooed as she traced a finger across his cheek, making him to blush from it, much to her joy.

"O-Okay..." He meekly replied as Mirajane stood up from her seat and began to change her clothes.

It's fine this way. She would be able to spend time with him. She would also have to do this to finally get the problem off her back. She didn't want him to worry about this so she'll just have to keep it to herself in the meantime. What's important is that she was able to enjoy her time with him seriously. And a date with him is the only solution for her desire and problem. She wanted nothing more than that. All she needs is to cherish what precious memories she'll experience with Natsu in this date. That's all that matters.

* * *

 _ **Back at the present time... Magnolia town square...**_

Natsu and Mirajane slowly paced their walk around town. As usual, she was clinging unto him like a real girlfriend and the way she acts around him is completely different from the ones he had seen from her. He had to ask though, does she always show this side to other close people when they're alone? Unaware for the two, onlookers began to turn their attention towards them with the majority of the boys, looking at them or rather at Natsu with scorn and envy.

Natsu's brow twitch in irritation as he could feel himself being watched by prying eyes. He hated it when someone is staring at him without showing their presence in front of him. If they they see something wrong with him, they might as well just spit it out in front of his face rather than making themselves a stalker or something or else they're gonna taste his flaming fist right into their faces.

He felt a tug on his clothes as turned to the white-haired barmaid who was wearing a bright smile before him.

"Don't mind them... It's only the two of us right?"

"I-I guess so. But are you okay with it?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean - wouldn't the boys and the ones from that Sorcerer's Magazine-thing will suspect you for this?"

"It's not their choice to whom I go out with right? Plus, the boys will stop chasing me if this goes viral." She smiled in delight only for the dragonslayer's head to pale in the process.

 _'And those boys will start on me...'_ He thought out in a deadpan manner. Well at least, it'll increase more potential idiots for him to beat up. He might even benefit from it. For a moment, Natsu agreed on that assumption as he could only use those guys as a practice for his magic. After all, he needed everyday exercises to keep his magic in its peak and those sods will serve as training dummies.

What an despicable person he is.

His train of thought was cut off as Mirajane squealed in delight beside him, prompting him to return back to his senses.

"What is it Mira?" He came to ask the delighted woman.

"L-Let's go over there Natsu!" She shouted in joy as her fingers pointed over a store with multiple cakes present beside it. Natsu looked over to him and smiled contently.

"Alright...Sure..." He accepted as Mira squealed in joy before pulling Natsu's arm once again towards the store.

'This is going to be a long day huh?' He thought inwardly as he let himself dragged by the white-haired girl to the store.

They proceeded by the glass door and opened it which triggered a clinking sound of small bells located above it. The light outside reflected to the glass door into different directions, making the woman in the counter to look at the customers, only for her to gape in shock at the person before her.

"W-Welcome, Mirajane-san.." The woman stuttered having to see one of the girls in the Sorcerer's Weekly Magazine to have come to eat in the store. Her shock didn't subsided though as she looked around another person beside her. She doesn't recognize him but seeing him in the company of Mirajane and the place they're in, she quickly drew a conclusion.

"Good Morning... Table for two please.."

"O-Of course, sure please.. This way.." She quickly paced around from the counter before leading the two to a table with two vacant seats. Natsu and Mirajane took their seats respectively across each other as the woman earlier gave them two menus and quickly withdraw back to her counter to respect the two's privacy.

"Hmmm..." Natsu took his time sifting through all of the food choices, hoping to find something to suit his taste. He's never tasted sweets and pastries before. Meat, fire and the combination of the two are his main food sources, given to him at the guild, whenever he's hungry. Booze is just an option as he had a frightful experience with it that led him beaten and battered by a certain scarlet knight due to his drunken behavior.

"Did you finally choose something?" Mirajane asked across him with her menu tipped down for a moment to look at the fire dragonslayer.

"I think I'll go with this white-thingy cake." Natsu motioned his menu over to her and pointed the familiar cake which made her smile as a result from his silly answer.

"It's called Vanilla cake silly~" She teased him before reaching out a finger and lightly flicked his nose, making him blush again out from embarrassment from the intimate exchange. The woman from the counter who was secretly watching at them, went steaming red all of a sudden as her assumption was confirmed.

 _'So they really are like that!' '_

Mirajane looked over to hers and closed the menu after choosing her own and called on the flustered woman.

"W-What are your orders ma'm/sir?"

"We'd like to order two Vanilla cakes please..." Mirajane smiled in return at the woman who nodded before going back to the counter.

"Wait, you ordered the same cake?"

"Yes?" Came out a brief reply.

"But why?"

"Because it's your choice..." She smiled while having a slight tinge of pink plastered on her cheeks which Natsu find it confusing.

"Are you alright Mira? You look kinda...red.." He asked worried, assuming that she might have gotten a cold. The maid of course, blushed even further and tried to hide her embarrassment from him as she looked away.

"I-It's nothing. I'm just spacing out..." She made a light excuse.

"Alright... But please, try to ask me if there's something wrong okay? I'd be really worried if you suddenly fainted while we're on the date. I'd hate myself if I let you overexert yourself after all, you've been working hard at the bar..." He reminded her with a greatly worried expression which made her turn herself towards him and saw his concern towards him. Not only that, he's been also observing her for a long time.

That's right. That's just like him. He worries over her well-being.

It was then, Mira felt her heart skip a beat which made her blush at him as their eyes never left each other's gaze. Unaware for them, other customers are beginning to look angry at the two. Not because of jealousy and spite but because of the fact that the customers around them are all single which makes them feel insulted from the couple sharing their intimate glances at each other. They felt that those two are actually directing their lack of any romance material from the opposite sex directly to their hearts. Pretty much different from the boys outside who have different reasons to be angry at the pinkette.

Natsu and Mira knew that they've been staring for each for awhile now so they looked away to cut off their daze towards each other with both mages having tinges of red color in their cheeks. In Natsu's account, he was never this uneasy and embarrassed from the other girls aside from Mira. He doesn't know why and how is this happening but he'll just have to go with the flow for now and enjoy their time together... And find out why she invited him.

"Will you tell me now the reason why you asked me out?" Natsu suddenly asked getting her to look at him.

"Oh that... I'll tell you later after our date okay?"

"Okay..."

At least their conversation started once more. It took a few minutes for them to wait for their order as they simply talked about each other starting from their childhood days up to now. It didn't take long for them to wait as the woman returned with two plates of pastries present before them. A pair of table cloths and forks are placed on both mages at the side of their plate.

"Here are your orders ma'm/sir..." The woman formally spoke as she bowed down slightly and Mirajane thanked her afterwards and began to fork down her cake into tiny bits and tried to put it slowly in her mouth. But before she could eat down her first bite, she looked at Natsu completely bewildered over the fork he is holding.

"Mira, what's this wonderful item? A weapon?" He asked confusingly getting Mirajane to sweatdrop at his first impression of the foreign object.

"Natsu... That's called a fork.. You use it slice the cake into small pieces and put it in your mouth..."

"Why not just swallow the whole cake. It's not that easy right?" Again Mirajane sweatdropped at him in thought. She gently took the fork from him and began slicing his cake before him and explained along the way.

"You see Natsu, when you eat pastries you have to acquire manners."

"I don't get it."

"The real technique in this is that when you eat the cake into small amounts, you'll be able to enjoy its taste longer rather than eating it whole..." She finished before forking down a small slice of cake she made gently presented it to Natsu's mouth.

"Aaah!~" Mirajane hummed as she was starting to feed Natsu intimately.

"Aaah!~" Natsu repated her humming sound and happily received the food in his mouth as he chewed it for a few seconds before swallowing it.

"H-How was it? She shyly asked him as he finished tasting the food. They were silent for a moment until-

"HOLY MOTHER OF IGNEEL! W-What's in this thing?" He asked shockingly as his eyes went wide after tasting. Mirajane could not tell if he's delighted or not as his expression didn't give enough explanation for to tell his reaction on the food.

"U-Uhh.. Vanilla?" She replied. It only took a few moments for her to realize his reaction as she saw a slight drop of drool coming from his mouth.

"It's delicious... " He remarked as his eyes sparkled at the new delicious food before him. Mira felt her heart lighten up for a bit. For a second there, she thought he's hate it since he always eat meat too much often.

"Do you want more?" She tried ask but he came out with a quick nod, giving her another warm smile towards him. She forked down another slice of cake and placed before his mouth.

"Say Aaah~"

"Aaaah~"

As the two continued their affectionate feeding process, Other customers seethed their teeth and their eyes in anger as some of them are already taking off some chunks of wood on the table from their hands due to their rage against the two.

 _'Those two...'_

 _'ARE THEY MOCKING US!'_

 _'Can they just do it somewhere!?'_

The woman in the counter could not help but only hide in her plate as the scene unfold before her. Oh she just wished that her store doesn't come crashing down if a mayhem occurred. Whatever it is, it ain't good for her and her business. As much as she loved to watch one of the hottest girls in the Sorcerer's Magazine having a good time with her boyfriend, she must watch herself out from the sensitive single customers behind them.

"This is really delicious Mira. And I've been turning my back in these delicious foods for all these years. Just how arrogant am I?" Natsu dramatically spoke.

"Well, it takes one person to get another to like their current food."

"Thank you very much Mira. For showing this to me...No wonder why Erza likes her strawberry cakes too much..."

"Yup. So you better be careful when she's around eating her cake or if you spill it, you'll be sorry." Mirajane playfully warned but Natsu listened carefully and gulped nervously at the reminder.

"Okay it's my turn to feed you Mira..." He smiled in delight as he took the fork from her but Mirajane was taken by surprise.

"W-W-What?"

"I mean, it's my turn to feed you. You helped me earlier right? I want to return the favor..." He replied almost with no hesitation. Mira, however wasn't prepared for this kind of situation. She never once tried to have someone feed for her in a special way since she always took the initiatives to do it only to other people and probably tease them in the process.

"W-W-Wait a minute Natsu.. I-I'm not actually prepared for this..." But she was ignored as Natsu took a slice on her cake placed it in the fork and presented it before her.

"Here comes the dragon... Woosh Woosh~" He sang playfully that somehow made Mira to be funny for some reason. She looked at him with hesitation before sighing in defeat. Knowing him, he will persist until he gets what he wants.

"Aahhh~"

"Aaahh~" Mirajane swallowed the sliced cake of hers and chewed on it for a few seconds before swallowing it whole. She only made a faint smile since she had tasted countless sweets such as this. Then again the customers around them can't take it any more. Their anger are really starting to hit the roof which scared the woman at the counter in the process. She feared of what's to come if this continues further.

 _'I'm gonna kill him...'_

 _'Assemble the other singles out there!'_

Even though, their thoughts are actually vented towards both of them, most of it are focused at the fire dragonslayer since he was more lovey-dovey with their feeding towards each other. And his innocent face is actually a sin for them.

Those thoughts are eventually ignored by the two as they think them as nonexistent because of the time they spent with each other alone as peaceful and heartwarming.

Mirajane used a table cloth to cover her mouth for any leftovers from her first bite. She looked at Natsu who was smiling at her before settling down the fork at his now empty plate. Now wait a second there...

The fork he used on her was actually the fork used by her to feed him. Which means-

It didn't take long for her to analyse what was happening around her as her head suddenly rose up in heat and embarrassment towards the dragonslayer. Of course, Natsu managed to notice her greatly reddened face.

"Hey Mira. You alright? You look kinda redder than before." He leaned over to her face which didn't help her blush to go down any further. What's more is that he actually pressed his own forehead to hers and connected each other to feel the heat. Mirajane stood there at his sudden action that even made her blush even more. His lips are so close to hers and the temptation to clasp it unto hers is so overwhelming. Her heart was pounding like crazy as each moment passes.

"Hmm. It seems you're alright but you look red though." He broke away from his temperature-checking method and left Mirajane, still with a red blush on her cheeks, completely unaware of what he just did to her.

"You sure alright?" He tried to ask but Mira only stuttered.

"K-K-K...s"

"Huh?" He tried to reconfirm what she just said as he find hard to understand.

"K-K-Ki...s"

"What's Ki? Is it a person or a thing?"

"KKKYYYYAAA! ! ! !"

Outside the store, a figure lay standing in a nearby shade of tree with a pair of sunglasses on his face. He wore a white tuxedo and a pair of luxurious shoes. He was currently watching over the two inside the store for some time before gripping a glass of juice tightly from his grasp, threatening to break it. He gritted his teeth in anger as he watched every scene between Mirajane and Natsu. It was then he stood up and walked into random places in the town while keeping a short glimpse at the two once more.

"You can't hide from me Mirajane Strauss..."

* * *

 _ **Minutes later outside the store...**_

"Really sorry Natsu... I really didn't mean to scream like that... I was just... shocked..." Mirajane apologized as she walked beside Natsu who managed to recover his composure after receiving an ear-piercing shout like that. What's worse is that his heightened ears caught a different scale of sound frequency from normal humans and he thought his eardrums are gonna blow over his head.

"It's nothing Mira... I really don't mind about it and you have reason for it...I'm not mad or anything.." He tried to dissuade her as he simply don't mind of being bothered at all. He's not gonna get angry over something like that.

Meanwhile, Mira was still having a hard time calming herself down after all what's happened back at the store. A lot of things happened so fast before her. First, he really didn't expect him to really feed her in return. Second, the fork used to feed her was actually the same utensil used on him which kind makes it an indirect kiss and third, the way he checked her temperature was beyond normal of what a normal person would do. He leaned at her forehead to feel the heat which makes her so nervous because she's never been so close to his face once.

What's more is that her tingling feeling earlier suddenly overwhelmed her senses. She was almost tempted to kiss infront him... And that can't be good.

 _'Why would he really do that? If I hadn't been more careful then I would've ki - NO! Stop! Control yourself Mira.'_ The barmaid slapped herself to clear out her thoughts from her head.

 _'But still, we kissed indirectly... I wonder what his lips taste lik - NO! NO! NO! You must control yourself. Safety first please Mira!'_

Natsu looked at his female companion in bewilderment. He could see her slapping her face for no good reason.

"Are you okay Mira?" Said person jolted up in alarm at the mention of her name and look at him nervously.

"Y-Y-Yes... I-I'm fine..."

"If this is about you apologizing again to me, don't worry about it. I said I'm not mad or anything."

"Okay.." Came a meekly reply from the barmaid.

"So where are we going now? I mean, we still have time and it's just noon."

"I don't know..."

"How about inviting someone back from the guild with u-" He was cut short until he was shot by a intimidating glare from her.

"Anything else but that... This is a secret between us alright?" She spoke darkly, seemingly to have her bright expression instantly replaced with a dark smile which made Natsu to gulp nervously and nodded in response.

"Good. Now, what you else prefer to do Natsu." She returned back to her usual attitude that baffled him even more. He had to remember that she was nicknamed the "Demon" back then. It came as shock to him of course since he managed to see the glimpse of her old self, resurfacing little by little and he knew that he might have to remind himself not to get on her bad side anytime soon.

Oh, Erza is in for a storm when she gets back.

Both him and Erza don't know if Mira is starting to revert back to her usual self for some reason while still keeping the gentle side which she had held unto all these years. Natsu doesn't know if he should be relieved or cowering right now. A mixture of her two personalities is like a kick in the gut.

"Come on Natsu. Let's go sight-seeing..." Mira called out to him who was already ahead a few feet away from him.

"S-Sure..." Came out a reluctant reply as he ran up to her.

"So what place are we going sight-seeing?"

"Kardia Cathedral..."

"Sounds okay to me..."

"Well then let's-" Mirajane stopped for a moment and widen her eyes in alarm as she felt a figure silently eyeing on them. Her face suddenly went serious as she tried to pull Natsu by his arm and held close to him in caution. The fire dragonslayer was surprised at her sudden action and began to ask.

"H-Hey Mira. What are you doi-"

"Let's find somewhere safe far away from here." Her face became dead serious as she dragged the confused dragonslayer in her grasp as they moved in a fast pace away from their previous area. Natsu was able to notice her serious expression and can't help but to feel caution around them. Something's not right with her going serious all of a sudden.

"Is something wrong Mira?" He asked but Mira ignored him and proceeded to make sharp turns from the streets and into the alleyways.

"Oi! Mira, is there's something wrong?" This time, Natsu was beginning to become uneasy and tried to ask her with his firm voice. They were currently hiding in an alleyway behind the wall, seemingly hiding from someone.

"Let's just hide... I don't want anything bad happening right now in our date..."

"What are you talking about?" Mirajane shushed him as she took a quick peek from the alleyway to see if someone is still following them. She took careful observations before going back to Natsu.

"Is it about time you tell me why?" Natsu complained, knowing that he hated having to take secrets much longer than he wanted to conceal even from his friends. Mirajane sighed in defeat seeing that she really can't conceal her problem any longer.

"Okay okay... I'll tell you... It's-" She was cut short as Natsu quickly grabbed her by his arms and pulled her inside his chest and shielded her from a explosion that seemingly appeared between them.

The explosion kicked up dust as Natsu easily whirled the intensity of the explosion into his mouth, eating the magic completely.

"Hoh, that was pretty close..." A condescending voice sounded from the alleyway, making Natsu to turn to source with rage.

"I thought I had you boy but it seems you look like you managed to dispel it. Care to explain how?"

"You bastard..." He growled as he felt Mira slightly emerging from his arms before looking in horror at the unknown person before them. The person was in his white tuxedo with a necktie placed neatly at the center of his coat. He has a shoulder-length blonde hair with a pair of sunglasses which he soon took off to show his face to them revealing his dark brown eyes. The person smirked after seeing the white-haired barmaid.

"It's been awhile Mirajane Strauss..."

"Arthur Tharner..."

* * *

 **A/N: And stop there guys. Chapter 9's done and we're off to chapter 10 :)**

 **Who's this mysterious guy and why does he know Mirajane. More will be revealed at the next chapter which I'll be doing shortly after this.**

 **Did their date show any satisfaction to you guys? It's still not finished though since they're interrupted by this unknown person. I was trying to keep Natsu's personality as canon-like as possible regarding his date but you can see he is starting become more mature over the past chapters so it will come over time.**

 **Natsu's likeness to sweets has become a reality. Hooray! Well only in this fic. hehe.**

 **Have you found the chapter great? Sorry if this was a bit fast. I just started out yesterday to this work after the last chapter has been published and finished it the next day.**

 **Anyway, your thoughts on this story. Leave a review. If you like the story so far, leave a fav. or even follow it. It's common courtesy and it serves as a motivation for me to write.**

 **So that's all for now guys. See ya next time on chapter 10 and stay awesome. - PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out...**


	10. Reciprocating These Feelings

**A/N: Yow guys, guess who? It's me! The all-time sadist- (clears throat*). wiErD here. Guess what? Just an author's note-(slaps face*). Sorry.**

 **Hi guys. Back with another chapter yay. Enjoy :)**

 **When did we stop?** **Oh yeah, _(the date turns out to be a bloody battle that will ensure the future of Fiore.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._**

 **I should really stop joking around. :(**

 **So again, the last chapter stopped with an unknown date-crasher. Well just WTF. Mira was just having a good time dammit. Oh well, we'll get to that. Read as Natsu and Mira face these person in this chapter. Might have a little mini-battle in here. :) And of course, some fluffiness for - - - - - - -**

 **NaMi!** **NaMi!** **NaMi!** **NaMi!** **NaMi!**

 **Have Fun and Happy Reading :)**

 **Disclaimer: I would never really own FT and its characters nor benefit from it.**

 **Hiro Mashima does own them Lol.**

* * *

 **\- Reciprocating These Feelings -**

Two figures were seen coming out from the train station with bought stuffs in their hands as they walked a few more paces away from the train. The exchange of passengers from the platform were crowded as people began flocking the recently-emptied train. The whirring sound of the engine boomed through the place as a bell started ringing, signaling the train's departure once again. Steam underneath the rails came out from the steel-made wheels of the train and the black smoke shot out from the engine as the train began to move once more.

"That was a pretty good place to buy things."

"There's so much to buy but you must not be careless about our expenditures since you just completed your first job. Plus, you need to save some for the rent at the dorm."

"I know... I already reserved some for that so I won't get a problem about it in the future."

As the two were conversing, they were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice that emanated behind them, seemingly troubled.

"SARA! WENDY! This thing is way too heavy!" Happy cried as he was desperately trying to lift a wooden closet beside them. Said mages sweatdropped at the poor blue Exceed who was trying to push the furniture inch by inch with his Aera. Needless to say, he was really doing a good work pushing it but. . . . . . . It still never made a foot distance from its previous position.

Poor Happy.

"You volunteered to carry it yourself so why complain?" Charle appeared before him who was carrying small bags filled with stuffs from their shopping time.

"But I never thought it was this heavy... But I have to be honest, Lucy weighs more than this..." Happy deadpanned.

"Do you still intend on joking with that part? If Lucy finds out, I don't know how it will turn out for you..." Charle warned.

"She went to Crocus... Said something about publishing her books there to earn money so she's not here..." Happy reasoned. Well what he said was true though. The celestial mage actually went to the Capital to earn more jewels there from her own written books. Both him and Natsu find it priceless and quite boring but Lucy insisted so they had no choice but to let her do her own thing. Hope she earns well.

"We could ask Natsu-san to carry it..." Wendy stated, giving her companion a brief look before nodding in response.

"Oh right, he's waiting at the guild. Might as well go and say hi to him. He's pretty alone since most of our teams are away..." Sara realized as she directed her gaze at the road leading where Fairy Tail is.

"What about this? We can't just leave it here..." Happy pointed the heavy closet behind them. All gave a brief look at each other before looking back at the tired blue Exceed.

"We'll just have to get to Natsu first. If it was stolen, we could sniff it out easily..." Sara bluntly answered.

"That's probably weird of a lady to be saying stuffs like that... but I guess you're right." Happy agreed.

"But first let's settle these things back at Fairy Hills..." Wendy suggested, looking over to their bags from their hands.

"Oh, that too. Let's go then..." Sara gestured to the others as the four began to make their way towards the dorm. They went passed many people from shops and houses in each side of the street as the day progresses each passing minute. Magnolia sure is crowded today. Kids flocked to the streets, playing tag at each other as the four continued their pace. It didn't take long for them to get back in Fairy Hills as they were at the door.

Wendy proceeded to open the door and was surprised to find the dorm without a single tenant in it. It seems everyone's inside the guild today. Happy and Charle flew above the two dragonslayers as they scanned the silent hallway.

"Where's everyone?" Happy asked curiously.

"Erza was away on an errand and the rest are probably at the guild at the moment." Wendy spoke as she slowly went upstairs together with Sara, carefully lifting the bag one platform at a time. Happy nodded before going over them and helped the lifting. Happy and Charle carried the smaller things into their rooms before going to the slightly bigger ones.

After a few minutes of carrying their bought items to their rooms, the girls together with the Exceeds went downstairs and closed the door before walking back downhill towards Fairy Tail.

"I wonder what Natsu-san is doing right now?"

"He's probably sleeping or fighting someone right now." Sara assumed. Knowing Natsu, he might be the cause of today's guild rumble.

She slightly gotten used of what normally transpires inside of her new guild since every time she went inside, she could see its prominent features; Master was always drunk together with Cana, Levy reading her books on her table together with her team who were challenging each other for her attention, Gajeel is always sleeping... and if he's on the mood, he would probably sing a song upstage without anyone's knowledge though she wouldn't call it good. Said person has one hell of voice similar that of the Lullaby's tune and she could remember the first time she witnessed it.

Lots of people were down on the ground with pale faces. Some passed out and some vomited in disgust from the so-called 'soothing voice' of his. Fortunately, Natsu was there to cover her ears, therefore sacrificing himself in the process. She doesn't know if it's stupid or heroic but he really did it to at least prevent her from hearing it.

Well it all ended as a reminder for those who were unfortunate to suffer at the event; Never let Gajeel hold onto a mic again.

It didn't take long for them to walk that far as they were at the guild doors before they even knew it. Wendy and Sara glanced at each other before pushing the door simultaneously and opened it.

It also didn't take long for their eyes to nearly fall out of their sockets as they saw the interiors of the guild in a middle of a some type of a battlefield. Two sides of different mages formed in opposite corners with eyes glaring at each other. Seems like the girls came at a wrong time as they stood there at the doors watching both sides about to clash. Across the hallway, straight to the bar counter, they could see Kinana and Laki in the same situation as they are; standing in between both sides and unsure of what to do.

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " A long wave of silence is eventually present inside the guild with a tense atmosphere in every corners.

"Oh, welcome back Sara-san, Wendy-san." Kinana smiled in delight cutting off the silent atmosphere at the guild.

What happened after that, was decided by fate as both sides roared in frustration as the impending battle broke out and finally let out the dogs of war.

"ATTACK!"

"TAKE THEM DOWN!"

"SHOOT THEIR ASSES WITH MAGIC! THAT'S THEIR WEAKNESS!"

That last comment was completely unnecessary as both sides clashed turning into another large guild brawl.

The girls were stunned as they saw the whole event unfold before them. Most of the tables and other furniture were broken down from magic and falling bodies and the bar counter was the only thing left untouched by the rumble. You would be lucky enough to see a single table intact somewhere around here. Though there's something missing inside the guild, specifically in the brawl itself.

"Where's Natsu?" Happy could only ask confusingly at the two girls who happen to be in the same state as he is.

There was no vision of a certain pink-haired dragonslayer present in the eyes of the two girls. There eyes searched through every corners and every person inside the guild but there was no sight of the pinkette. Now that's strange. Normally, Natsu would've already jumped in the fray and mess around with every people he found worth punching for. What's more, he would never say no in this scale of guild brawl as it was probably the biggest yet recorded in Fairy Tail history.

"We should try asking Laki-san and Kinana-san..." Wendy proposed, getting a nod from her three companions. Charle and Happy carried Wendy and Sara respectively as they flew overhead at the guild brawl below them. They could see the mayhem breaking out in every corners as mages connected their fists and magic towards one another.

Seconds later, they landed at the bar counter, completely safe from the carnage behind them.

"Good to see you two..." Kinana smiled brightly at the dragonslayers.

"Good to see you too Kinana-san. I'm quite relieved that you two are safe from these fights..." Wendy beamed.

"We're just waiting for the whole fight subside in the afternoon, they've been fighting against each other for some quite time now." Laki explained.

"Speaking of fighting, do you see Natsu around? It seems like he's not here to join." Sara questioned.

"Sorry, I don't know Sara-san... But I'm sure he's just sleeping somewhere..." Laki answered, not knowing the actual location of the fire dragonslayer.

"He's just went outside with Mira-san awhile ago..."

Sara and Wendy tilted their heads in confusion.

"Eh?"

"I don't know the reason but I think they're probably walking around town..."

"Oh like a date or something?" Laki squealed in delight after hearing Kinana's assumption about the two.

"I bet they're already eating somewhere nice and probably holding hands together! Oh, how romantic would that be." Kinana joined as she began to think various situations about her two guild mates, sharing their intimate exchange to each other. It was something she would imagine from the romance books she occasionally borrowed from Levy and needless to say, she had quite gained the same fetish like the scarlet knight, not the way she's thinking about it too much. Erza has way more lewd thoughts that she can predict at one situation. She'll have to read more if she's going to be like her.

Unaware for them, two tick marks appeared shortly between the two dragonslayer's heads as they suddenly knew what was going on. In an instant, Sara and Wendy went back to the two Exceeds.

"Charle. We're searching him."

"Happy. We're searching him."

They spoke in unison.

The Exceeds quivered in fear as they saw the sudden change determination present in the two dragonslayers' faces and could only nod in response as they sprouted their wings immediately and flew back to the entrance and into the town with no time wasted on such trivial matters. Kinana and Laki stood there dumbfounded at what happened. Their two friends suddenly took off without much of a word to say something more.

"They do know it's a joke right?" Kinana deadpanned and at the same time, sweatdropped together with Laki.

Then the two female mages were left in the midst of an ongoing guild brawl that might have last further in the late afternoon. The insanity of the guild is already at its peak and they could hope that they weren't mixed in that kind of dilemma. They don't want to get into their guild's antics because that's just plain suicide and dangerous for their health, both body and mind.

* * *

 _ **In an alleyway at some part of Magnolia...**_

Dust kicked up from the intense force of the explosion only to have it sipped down into Natsu's mouth as he absorbed and ate the magic directed to them, replenishing him in the process. They were taken completely by surprise as a dangerous explosion appeared before them. Lucky for him, he was able to eat the whole blast in the last minute. If he was few seconds late, then Mirajane would've been caught in the blast.

Eventually, it settled down as Natsu held Mirajane protectively in his arms, never letting go of her hold onto him.

It was then he glared furiously at the person infront of them whom he had taken to be responsible for that sudden attack on them.

He felt Mirajane slowly shifting in his grasp to regain her composure and began to look at his direction only to widen her eyes in horror after seeing the person before them.

Arthur smirked as he stood in front of the two mages with a conceited look on his face.

Natsu took a careful observation on the unknown person before him. He was wearing a white tuxedo with a red necktie that was neatly placed at center of his coat. He had a blonde, shoulder-height hair that swayed magnificently down as the faint air blew against him. He wore a pair luxurious black shoes and a pair of sunglasses in his eyes which he soon took off after seeing the white-haired barmaid.

"It's been awhile Mirajane Strauss... How are you doing in these past couple days?" He spoke gently to the two but Mirajane kept up a steady guard against him. It's like she's really getting cautious around him. Natsu looked at her with concern. He never seen her so conflicted and nervous before. Just what is this man and why does he know her name?

Feeling that he will get nothing just from observation, he decided to ask her.

"Mira. Who is that dork?" The person in question floored after hearing such an atrocious word against him.

Leave it to Natsu. He has one way of ruining someone's grand entrance. Mirajane could not help but to feel lightheaded at the question.

Even in this kind of situation, he still managed to hold more of his rude questions against unknown people. He really expresses his thoughts freely about others's appearance and attitude. Talk about being straightforward.

Eventually, Arthur emerged from his fall and regain his composure before looking at the pink-haired boy with irritation.

"Oi! Who you calling dork? I should say the same thing to you peasant!" Arthur pointed his fingers accusingly at Natsu. Surprisingly, the pinkette earned a tick mark on his head.

"Shut up dork! I can call anyone with that who's wearing that kind of piece of shit clothes..." Natsu scoffed in annoyance as he looked away in disgust from Arthur's clothes.

"Why you little inconsistent pile of dung? How dare yo-" He was cut short when a sharp and very commanding voice boomed between them, stopping their argument in the process.

"What do you want Arthur?" Mirajane spoke in a rather harsh and dark tone towards Arthur which made Natsu to look back at her with a shocked expression. This is entirely different. The way she speaks now towards Arthur is very venomous and uncaring. Her bright behavior was gone and replaced with hostility against the blonde man even though, he was there beside her. It's like a whole another version of her presented before him.

Natsu began to glare at the man in annoyance.

What did that guy do to make Mira so much angry?

Whatever it is, he would make sure he's not getting away with it. He made sure of that. One thing he couldn't stand at other people is hurting his dear friends and family. He would never hesitate to beat the life out of those people just for that because he can't stand his friends crying and hurt in front of him, unable to do anything thus rectifying his anger towards those guys.

As the fire dragonslayer was still in the midst of suspecting him, Arthur simply bowed in respect at the two as he motioned himself towards them.

"Why, I'm just here to see if my little angel is doing well..." He spoke flirtatiously, getting Natsu to vomit inwardly in disgust. The guy's actually more creepy than he'd originally thought and his flirting skills are lower than an amateur. Mirajane also noticed this and quickly moved in a form of rebuttal from his actions.

"I'm not so much of an angel Arthur...And don't act like you own me." She sarcastically spoke with a mix of her serious expression as her eyes are focused solely on Arthur himself, hoping for him to be intimidated from her devilish gaze but it didn't go well as she had hoped.

Instead, he gave a fake scared expression that made Natsu again to vomit in his thoughts.

This is probably worst than being on a transportation... Is he like gay or something?

He then proceeded to ask Mirajane once again.

"Who's that guy?" Natsu asked worriedly.

"His name is Arthur Tharner. His family's name was one of the most well-trusted families in whole of Fiore. They were one of the families who collaborated with the formation of the legal guilds decades back. They were also one of the reasons of how the cease-fire between guilds had been implemented in Fiore..." She paused before looking at the blonde-haired man cautiously. Her explanation was pretty incoherent as Natsu's head tilted in confusion halfway.

But even though he finds it hard to understand at first, he was able to get a glimpse of their background and he finds it uninteresting.

"...Eventually, the Tharners became well-known across the land because of their idea and became rich and powerful."

"So how did you meet him?"

"I met him last year in the last ball meeting on our GMG Great Banquet... He was presented there since his family are called upon the ball to celebrate... Then he came to me, asking for my hand in marriage but I turned him down because I'm not interested." At this part of the explanation, Natsu was able to understand the situation. It's probably something he might be able to relate himself in that same kind of situation.

 _'Hand in marriage huh? Wait, why can I seem to recall something similar back then?'_ He thought out in confusion as he remembered a certain promise back at the village.

"That's right my boy... And it seems like you're hitting on my girl today so I suggest you back away now..." Arthur smirked but Mirajane angrily replied back.

"I think you should be the one who should back away. And for the last time, I'm not your girl."

"Do you still intend on keeping me away?" He sighed nonchalantly.

"Yes, for as long as you're out of my life."

"Ouch! If I'm not careful enough, you might break my heart Mirajane." Arthur dramatically spoke with hands gesturing over his chest like a heartbroken man.

"I wish I can."

Arthur walked over to them which made her to raise her caution against him.

"Awww, don't be like that Mirajane. I'm sure in that you'll never regret choosing me over this peasant." He looked over to the pinkette who twitched his brow in irritation as he managed to hear him talking about him in disgust.

"Hey!"

"That peasant you were referring about is my boyfriend and I don't appreciate you talking so lowly at him." Mirajane spoke valiantly in defense for Natsu who somehow smiled after that compliment.

"Boyfriend?"

"That's right. And I suggest you should give up already because I found myself a t-t-true boyfriend." The barmaid slightly blushed at the answer as she find it embarrassing despite in this kind of situation.

But Arthur smirked at her answer.

"Isn't it about time you drop the whole dating act?" Arthur spoke in a more serious expression as he looked at her, ignoring the pinkette beside her.

Mirajane widen her eyes in surprise at the question before her. Even Natsu was surprised, he didn't know that it was fake since he sees her enjoying their time together earlier. She was acting like it was very true in her account and her actions earlier were no liar as he could see her most brightest smile for the first time.

That alone, is enough for him to understand how much she treasured those times with him and the question was sort of a shock to him.

"W-W-What are you talking about? Natsu and I were really-" She was cut short as Arthur began to sound more forceful and interrupted her.

"Really? I find it hard to see that the most hottest girl in the Magazine had found a boyfriend all of a sudden."

Mirajane could only grit her teeth in frustration as Arthur finally saw through her actions. She felt her tongue twist as she can't come up with a way to answer. Natsu saw her beginning to feel uneasy around the man beside them and decided to intervene.

"Hey dork. Will you step away? Can't you see she's uncomfortable around you?" He sounded upset about how this guy pushes Mirajane too much.

"Call me like that one last time and I'll have you imprisoned by the Council." He threatened the pinkette but he didn't show any ounce of fear against his words.

"You looking for a fight? 'Cause my arm is aching for an ugly face like yours. And I don't give a damn about your Council..." He paused.

"If Mira doesn't want you to around, you might as well turn the other way. Like she said, I'm her boyfriend and I will punch you to kingdom come if you tried to hurt her." Natsu fiercely spoke in defiance against the man who slightly took a step back from his hostility, but his faćade didn't change.

"Funny thing, coming from someone who doesn't know that the whole thing was just an act from her to keep me away." Arthur retorted.

"...You really think her laughing naturally with me was a lie? Do you honestly think that showing her cute and scary side to me was a lie and, do you really think that the memories we spent together was lie when she's really having fun with me?..."

"...Screw that! I don't care if it was fake or not, what's important is the memories we deeply treasured with each other and the feelings that we give out to each other. That's what matters." Mirajane felt moved as Natsu said those words in front of them.

That's right. What matters most is their feelings. They don't have to be acting against it, they just need to let them express what they truly feel. Mirajane gazed at him in wonder, feeling a warm sensation creeping into her heart every passing second. Her heart is starting pound wildly as she felt it.

"Natsu..." Her words, calling out for his name trailed off in thought. A slight tinge of pink is starting form over her cheeks.

Arthur was seemingly unfazed by Natsu's words as he continued to show his arrogant behavior at the pinkette.

"You shouldn't pry onto my business so casually. Don't you know who you are talking to?" He became resentful.

"What? Do you think I'm afraid of you?!"

"Hmm... I wonder what will happen to your precious guild if you keep on talking so rude at me." Arthur threatened, making Natsu widen his eyes in anger as he heard the name of his guild mentioned in his threat. It was then, he began to release some of his flames in anger that made Arthur to take a step back from the growing flames.

"IF YOU TRY TO DO ANYTHING TO FAIRY TAIL, I'LL BUST YOUR EVERY TEETH UNTIL YOU HAVE NONE IN THAT FUCKING FACE OF YOURS!" Natsu growled menacingly that made Arthur to pull a magic gun, aimed at the angered dragonslayer.

"Be careful with your words peasant. I hate getting my hands dirty if you-" He stopped halfway as the magic gun he was holding was instantly melted in the intensity of the flames.

Mirajane saw the conversation was getting out hand.

She should've expected about Natsu's nature when the it comes to the matter of his friends and his guild . But she was scared about Arthur's threat against him and could not help but intervene the tense atmosphere between them.

She lightly pulled his clothes making him to avert his gaze on the blonde-haired man and immediately dissipated the flames around him, looking at her in worry.

"Natsu. Don't..." She muttered sadly at him as she didn't to involve him from Arthur.

"Let me handle this..." She continued as she went past him and faced Arthur who was still dusting his clothes for any flames that might have caught in it. She faced him with a serious expression.

"Arthur... This is your last warning.. Leave us be..."

"No can do Ms. Strauss. I can't leave without accomplishing what I came for..."

"What do you want?"

"Well let's see..." He pondered in thought before snapping his fingers loudly like some sort of signal. Natsu and Mirajane was confused at first until five rock pillars appeared before Natsu and suddenly formed into a large cage as small pillars from the five bigger ones appeared in its sides and restrained the fire dragonslayer in mere seconds.

"What the-" Natsu stuttered in disbelief as he found himself caged inside. Mirajane widen in shock as she dropped her white purse and ran over to the dragonslayer and tried to break him free.

"Natsu!" She widen in shock, before looking back at the blonde-haired man in anger.

"What did you do?"

Arthur smirked before snapping his fingers again as the pillars began glowing in deep purple color. Natsu suddenly knelt into the ground panting as he felt his magic power being drained away from the pilllars.

"M-My p-power..."

"Natsu!" Mirajane cried as she saw him getting weakened by the pillars surrounding him.

"That's a modified magic restriction spell made by the Tharners Corps. I'm not a mage myself but this is very convenient to restrain reckless mages such as him.

"You... monster..."

"I wouldn't call myself like that... I just needed to have a simple talk with you without his interference. And if you try anything funny, I could easily increase the pillar's power to drain his magic power faster and you know what happens if a mage loses his magic completely." He looked darkly over the restrained mage who is barely trying to keep himself composed as he could while looking at the two.

"What do you want?" Mirajane inquired.

"Simple really. Come with me to Phallan and I get to release your friend here and I will never bother your guild anymore."

Mirajane knew immediately what he wanted. He was forcefully pushing her to his engagement. She gritted her teeth in frustration at the smirking blonde-haired man. She never knew that it would really come to this. Natsu was trapped because of her. The guild is being threatened and she can't simply deny it in fear of Natsu's health. There would be chance that he will not fulfill those conditions, but Natsu is still suffering. If she didn't comply, then he would be greatly hurt.

"M-M-Mira... D-Don't do it... I-I'll save you.." She heard the fire dragonslayer's panting voice and glanced around at him with a worried expression.

"Natsu..."

Arthur was getting impatient. He didn't want to wait any longer between these two. Everything is going well according to his plan. With Salamander under control and the threat of disbanding Fairy Tail with his power, he easily put Mirajane in a corner.

"Hurry up..." He spoke.

"D-Don't give up Mira... Don't forget your friends and comrades... W-We'll protect you.. " Natsu stuttered as he tries to keep himself strong enough to speak for her but Arthur chuckled at his words.

"You're really useless... Thinking you can protect her even in this kind of situation..."

"Don't speak ill of him..." Mirajane glared in anger at the blonde-haired man.

And at that moment, two black-suited men appeared behind her and quickly placed a magic-sealing handcuff in her hands, thereby restraining her magic in the process. She widen in shock as the two men blocked her way to escape and watched as Arthur walked his way towards her.

"What are you doing?" She panicked as she felt powerless to fight back as her cuffs prevents her from using magic. This is his plan all along; He restricted both of them of their magic power in order to keep himself safe from any threats.

"You're still as scary as ever Mirajane... Which even makes me crave more for your heart..." He spoke in a flirtatious tone that somehow destroyed Mira's strong facade and tried back away in nervousness but wasn't able due to the men behind her.

"I already told you that I will never accept you... How many times do I have to tell that I don't like you..." Mirajane frantically answered back as she tried to get herself together at the situation, but Arthur once again inched closer to her.

"Yes, of course you would say that but... you must not forget that I have the authority here and I have your friend under my grasp. You cannot escape from me. We're both destined to be together Mirajane you know that?"

"NO! I would never come to someone like you ever! You're despicable... I hate you!" She shouted desperately to shove him away but Arthur pressed further and forcefully grabbed her wrist whilst giving a calm yet seductive expression towards her.

"You will. . .be mine. . in time. . . ."

 _'. . . . .Please save me. . . . Natsu ! !'_ She cried as her tears are starting flow out from her eyes in desperation.

Just as Arthur's about to pull her towards the opposite direction, he heard a sudden crack of walls from the pillars and turned around to see the fire dragonslayer, clenching both pillars with his hands hard enough for them to crack. He widen his eyes in disbelief at the sight.

 _'He's breaking the pillars with brute force?!'_

"RRRaaaAAAgggGGGhhhHH! ! ! !" Natsu roared in frustration as flames began to gather around his body despite the pillars draining his power away. Arthur was stunned at the display of his power and panicked as he took out a magic-controller and increased the pillars' power to restrain him but it was no use. Natsu continued to flare up more fire in his body as it covered the pillar and began to burn everything inside. Arthur took a step back together with Mirajane and his men as the heat intensifies, melting the reinforced pillars little by little.

And in one mighty push, Natsu broke free from the seal, leaving cracks from his flaming burst as he disappeared in a crimson blur, appearing before Arthur, shocking him.

"What the-" He was cut short as Natsu roared angrily against him.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"

It was then, Arthur was met with a devastating flaming fist that connected to his face, sending him tumbling towards the men. He let go of his grasp on Mira's wrist as he fell a few meters away with the men.

"Natsu..." Mirajane muttered as her tears continued to flow out from her eyes upon seeing him okay and well.

Arthur emerged as he wiped of some blood coming from his mouth and gently touched his burned cheek and glared at the dragonslayer.

"You really done it Salamander... Kill him!" He shouted as multiple black-suited men appeared and surrounded them in numbers. Natsu stood there before taking a few steps towards the blonde-haired man with his shadowed expression.

"You're gonna regret making Mira cry you bastard!" He growled as his flames suddenly cackled with lightning around it, lifting small rocks around him at the intensity of his power.

"Kill him!" Arthur shouted.

 **"Lightning Flame Dragon's Energy Burst!"** Natsu shouted as lightning and flame shone brightly, blinding everyone in the vicinity.

What resulted after was a explosion that blew up dust and smoke from the alleyway. Couple of bystanders panicked as their eyes turned over the explosion and could not help but scatter and run from the vicinity. The blast wasn't strong enough to blow the place but it left a huge column of smoke through the air.

Sara and Wendy suddenly noticed the explosion as they looked over the column of smoke in the distance.

"What's that?" Wendy asked.

"I don't know but I think it's Natsu..." Happy answered.

"Let's go..." Everyone nodded in response as Sara spoke and flew towards the dust.

Eventually, dust and smoke settled inside the alleyway, revealing electrified and burnt bodies of Arthur's men completely knocked out from the pain. Only three figures remain standing at the place. Mirajane was left untouched by the spell as she only received dust from the explosion, thereby ruining her clothes with dirt. Natsu left standing there in front of her with small flickers of flames and lightning around his body from the spell earlier. And lastly, Arthur lay standing in fear before him. His clothes are tattered and burnt with his face covered with scratches.

His sunglasses are destroyed and for some reason, he did not feel any pain apart from the downed men around him.

Natsu began to walk towards him, giving him shivers of fright from the dragonslayer. He fell from his back and tried to get away from the incoming dragonslayer.

"M-M-Monster... Get away!" He shouted.

It was then, he was backed against a wall, completely cut off from escaping as he saw Natsu standing before him.

"Let me say this. . . . . . You try anything to make her sad or cry and I will make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life.." He threatened. Arthur didn't answer but shakily nodded from the threat as Natsu urged him to get away which he immediately did to run away from the scary dragonslayer.

Mirajane slowly made her way towards the dragonslayer who still haven't turned his back to her.

He must be mad for using him to solve her problem... He might hate me for that. After all, he did enjoyed their time together and she just used it as an excuse to keep herself away from Arthur. What's more, she dragged him into this mess.

It was then Natsu turned around and faced her with an unassertive look to which Mirajane expected it. He began to raise his hand in the air and she just closed her eyes, hoping for a slap from him but no such hard contact came as she was met with a light hand-chop to her head from the dragonslayer who was now wearing a deadpanned look in his face.

"That's for not telling me..." He spoke lazily.

"You're not angry? After what I did?" She asked worriedly.

"Idiot~...(Baka...)" Natsu smiled as he proceeded to hug her warmly, shocking the girl in the process. She was left dumbfounded at his actions but she immediately saw the worried look on his face as his embrace slightly tightened.

"I'm glad you're safe..."

"Thank you... Natsu."

They stayed there for a moment before letting go of the hug.

"Sorry... I think I kinda ruined your clothes.." He spoke as he saw her clothes dirtied.

"I-It's nothing you saved me earlier..." Natsu then proceeded to dust off the dirt in her clothes as he inched closer to her. He swiped his hands gently as her clothes slightly became clean.

"There... at least you're not dirty anymore..."

"Ummm. Natsu about what I did to you earlier-" She was cut off as Natsu held her shoulders firmly.

"Don't say it... You did nothing wrong. If anyone's to blame, it should be him alright?"

Mirajane didn't say anything as she started to cry in front him and jumped into his arms and cried in his chest. Natsu accepted the embrace once again and let her in his grasp for a bit longer. It's been a long time since she felt his warm embrace. She wanted to enjoy it while it lasts.

"Don't leave okay? Never abandon us okay?"

"Okay..." She mumbled silently but he heard her and smiled, feeling satisfied.

They broke off their second embrace as Mirajane was able to revert back to her usual bright self which relieved him.

"Natsu!" A familiar voice sounded behind them which prompted them to turn around and saw Happy calling out to him together with Sara, Wendy and Charle.

"Everyone.."

The two dragonslayers landed before them and was shocked to find bodies around them completely knocked out cold.

"What happened here?" They asked.

"Well, how to start?" Natsu sheepishly replied as he scratched his head, trying to recall back what happened. Though they asked about the situation, Sara and Wendy went over to examine Mirajane, wearing a white frilly dress.

.

.

 _Wait what?_

That's when they stopped worrying. They looked around them and seemingly in an alleyway and they found them two alone in it. Which means-  
It didn't take long for their heads to spin out of control as they instantly found themselves flustered and panicked at the same time as a bothersome thought appeared at the same time into the two dragonslayers' heads.

 _'Natsu was trying to do something shameless to Mira-san! ! ! ! ! ! !'_

Now wait a second there. There's absolutely no way for him to do that. Plus, they didn't even consider about the bodies around them to arrive at that conclusion. However, their thoughts were completely overwhelmed and Sara proceeded to grab Natsu's collar forcefully.

"Just what are you trying to do Natsu to Mira-san?"

"Awawawawa. N-Natsu-san, that's so bold of you." Wendy stuttered.

"What bold?"

"Don't play dumb with us Natsu. You were about to do those. . . . . . . to her am I right?" The last part was muffled as Sara's cheeks are instantly flushed with red color at the thought she was currently having. Same goes for the bluenette.

"C-Calm down Sara. Please let me explain..." Natsu tried to dissuade them but he can't do anything as he found himself pitted with more unclear questions.

Mirajane could only giggle at Natsu who was keep glancing at him muttering "Help me!" in his mouth. She had to stop though, she had troubled him too much and it's time for her to help him.

She affectionately clung into his arms, making the two girls to stop for a moment.

"Sara-chan, Wendy-chan... Can we just discuss this later okay? Me and Natsu are in the middle of something." She smiled in a very gentle way but in the same time, there was a devious expression inside that smile of hers which made the girls to narrow their eyes in caution.

"WHAT SOMETHING!" Wendy and Sara shouted in unison, wanting to know what's meaning behind her words.

 **"Sara-chan, Wendy-chan..."** Mirajane's tone suddenly became demonic as her devilish smile was imminent around them. Natsu paled from the sight.

.

.

 _'Holy Shit! She's just like her old self back then!'_

Sara and Wendy were already clinging to each other from the frightening voice of the barmaid while Happy and Charle are hugging to each other in fear of the barmaid. Suddenly, their expression went frightened and you could see Sara and Wendy had almost tears in their eyes from the spooky face she was giving. They lost their will to utter a word and left shaking tremendously.

Seeing her friends finally 'calmed' down, she pulled a still-pale Natsu into hers and dragged him away with her as they try to go the other way.

"Well then, we're off. We'll meet back after the guild okay?" She spoke gently at the trembling four as she and Natsu turned a quick corner.

One thing went inside Sara, Wendy and Charle's mind; _'MIRA-SAN IS SO SCARY! ! !'_

Happy knew better, he was more afraid about what happened earlier. That smile, that devilish smile she'd wore just now. Her tone was also the same. There's no mistaking it.

 _'SHE'S BACK! THE OLD MIRA HAS RETURNED! THIS IS NOT GOOD. ERZA'S NOT GONNA LIKE THIS- oh wait, more importantly,'_ He paused in thought.

 _'...BE CAREFUL NATSU! ! MAY IGNEEL WATCH OVER YOU AT THIS MUCH NEEDED TIME...'_

* * *

 _ **A few meters away from the alleyway...**_

Natsu and Mirajane continued to walk a few more paces away from the alleyway to make sure they weren't being followed. As much as Mira hated it, she doesn't want her little secret with Natsu being leaked out from the others. As much as she hated it, she doesn't want her little secret with Natsu being leaked out from the others. And pulling herself and the dragonslayer away from the four was the best course of action.

"I'm sorry about that Natsu. I just had to do it to avoid any attention." She turned around and faced him with an apologetic smile but what she saw was a still-paled Natsu beside her who was still under shock about her sudden change of behavior earlier.

"Natsu?" She tried asking but no reply came. Then, an idea popped into her mind.

She position herself and motion herself towards him facing each other. Then, she slowly leaned on and closed her eyes for a kiss. Her cheeks immediately blushed as her lips came closer to his. Her heart was starting pound wildly and couldn't control its loud beat. She didn't know what came to her but she had to do it to snap him back to his thoughts and at the same time, to show her gratitude.

.

.

And then his adrenaline came out like a one powerful kick to his body and mind as his thoughts reverted back and broke his trance almost immediately. And in one mighty push, he avoided the incoming kiss from the barmaid who was leaning out to kiss him.

"JUST WAIT A MOMENT THERE! ! !" He shouted in panic.

"Oh, you're back."

"What are you trying to do?"

"You were spacing out so I tried to kiss you to snap you back. Well, I guess it worked..." She smiled innocently.

"YOU COULD'VE DONE IT THE OTHER WAY! ! ! HECK I ALMOST LOST MY INNOCENCE." He panicked for the second time.

"Since when did you become so sensitive about kissing and innocence? And for the record, you said it wrong about innocence. Do you even know what it means?" She deadpanned.

"That damn gramps..." He pouted as he felt defeated.

Mirajane could only smile at his innocent actions towards her. Oh, how she missed this Natsu.

"Well to me, you still the same... Idiot, dense and stupid..." She giggled. Said person twitched in annoyance.

"Hey!" He tried to sound intimidating but wasn't able to do so as she returned with a gentle yet killing smile on her face.

 **"You were saying something Natsu?"**

"N-Nothing. . . . ." Came out a meek reply. He should've reminded himself that she's still as scary as Erza.

Again, she reverted back to her bright behavior as she giggled at him.

"You're cute when you're scared..." Natsu slightly blushed as he tried to avert his gaze from her and hide his face.

"T-Thanks... I guess."

They went silent for a moment as Natsu looked away while Mirajane is still looking at him with a gentle smile which somehow confuses him. He didn't do anything wrong right?

"Thank you Natsu.. For saving me.." She finally spoke, making him to look back at her in confusion.

"I already told it's nothing..."

"But it was enough for me... to be glad that he's not bothering me anymore.. and you were there to save me.." She smiled at him brightly as she took quick steps ahead of him.

"Well, I can't just leave you with him can I? If you would've told me sooner then I would've already punched him to heaven."

"Yeah right..." She chuckled at his silly answer, getting him to smile in response. Well at least, she's back to normal.

"...Well then I'll be off."

"Huh?"

"You already solved my problem and I'm thankful for that. I don't want to give you trouble anymore... But I really appreciate what you did back there and for our date. It was fun..." She explained as she began to walk the other direction but she felt a firm grasp from her hands and turned around and saw Natsu with his toothy grin.

"Nope, you're not going anywhere." He grinned.

"Eh?" It was her turn to become confused.

"You're still taking me to that sight-seeing-thing. Our date isn't over until it's finished."

"EEHH! ! !" She panicked. He's still going on about that thing.

"B-But our date's already finished..."

"Who said it was finished? Come on..." He cheered happily as he began to pull her towards the direction where Kardia Cathedral is. Mirajane just watched his back, wondering. She couldn't really say no to this dragonslayer. Truly a persistent one. She smiled inwardly as she let herself be taken with him to where they're going and happily accepted it.

 _'I give up. . . . .I really like this idiot.'_

 _._

 _._

 _._

They walked for a few more meters towards the Cathedral. It was already in the afternoon as the sun was starting change its bright light into a soft glowing orange-yellow light from the sky as the sun is sets on the horizon. It didn't take long for them as they were already at the Cathedral watching the sunset from above. Natsu was resting his arms near the rail and watched the sun moved very slowly at the horizon. Mirajane was also the same but kept stealing glances on him with each passing minute.

"So this is what sight-seeing is all about..."

"Yes..."

"The sun. . . . looks. . . delicious." He drooled after looking at the sun in hunger.

"Still thinking about food?"

"Well, I'm kinda hungry ever since I fought with that dork."

"Fufufu. Still as funny as ever Natsu.." She chuckled.

"What's that suppose to mean?" He asked but he saw her gazed over the horizon, enjoying the scenery. To be honest, he's getting quite bored to have himself sight-seeing if there is no conversation but he can't be that pushy towards Mira. If she wants to watch the sunset quietly then it's fine for him as long as she's happy about it.

His thoughts about her was wrong though.

Inside her head, she was still troubled about Lisanna. That's right, even though she managed to solve her problem, her situation about Lisannna relationship still hangs as a problem. She did enjoy her time with him and she couldn't deny her feelings any further but her trust and bond with her sister is something she couldn't ignore.

It's like two sisters liking the same man. And she knew she couldn't just keep her feelings about Natsu to her for too long.

"Hey Natsu..." The dragonslayer looked at her in confusion.

"Yeah..."

"What will you do if you have a friend and you two liked the girl but you couldn't say it to him because you support them..." Of course, Natsu was confused and could only tilt his head in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Nothing..." She went back to watch the scenery, knowing he won't be able to understand it since he was too innocent to answer for such an impossible question.

"I don't know about liking someone or love like that but-" He paused, getting Mira to look at him in surprise.

"...as a friend, you have to tell him the truth. At least, let him know because he trusts you. I think it wouldn't be a problem if you two talked about it each other. Heck, it might as well turn into some kind of friendly rivalry." He smiled as he recalled events of his friends and family inside the guild. Their smiles and happiness are what makes him strong and trust each other without any doubts.

Mirajane could only widen her eyes in surprise at his answer. That's right. . . . To be able to express her true feelings to him, she has to tell her what she truly feel. She doesn't want to hurt her sister and trick her. Her bond with her won't change if she told her the truth. She wouldn't feel right about the fact of betraying her feelings. She finally knew what she needed do.

She smiled at the open space as her thoughts have been made clear for her. She slightly scooted over to him and touched his hand on the rail which he didn't mind and continued to watch the beautiful scenery before them...

"Thank you Natsu... for everything."

A few minutes later, they already came down as the sun was partially below the horizon. Natsu and Mirajane were already at the street as they looked at each other, seemingly content about their time together especially for the barmaid. She really enjoyed this moment and most of all, it was him who helped to solve her doubts, problems and uncertainty. She regretted nothing about this date and would treasure this as one of her precious moments together with him.

"Thanks for accompanying me for today Natsu. I'd really enjoyed it."

"Me too. You gave me warm-up earlier." He made his signature toothy grin which made her giggle at him.

"Fufufu. Oh, that too."

"I'll see you tomorrow Mira."

"Unn. Thank you for everything."

"Oh and make sure you apologize to Sara and Wendy. I think you should tell them about what really happened." He reminded.

"Okay...You're not coming?"

"I gotta go somewhere. But I promise I'll be back at the guild later..."

"Don't be late..."

"Sure." He smiled before going over to the other direction but he stopped as he heard Mirajane calling her out his name from behind, prompting him to turn around to face her. What happened next was completely unexpected...

Chuu~*

He wasn't prepared at the next event as Mirajane unexpectedly came close to him and gave him a quick peck on his cheek, catching him off guard. She leaned back as she began to take a few steps back from him to see him clearly.

"W-W-Wha...W-W-What-" He stuttered in disbelief as she cut him short.

"I'm definitely going to win." She spoke with a gentle smile present in her face.

"What are you talking about Mira? And what was that just now?" He asked in confusion as he gingerly touched the part of his cheek where she planted her kiss.

"I'm... definitely gonna win your heart Natsu..." She smiled happily as her cheeks were tinged in shades of red after that declaration. However in Natsu's case, it was a completely different reaction.

Now wait a second there. He was sure that he didn't bet his heart on something right? He would be dead if someone took his heart right?

"Wait for me okay?" She continued but he was unsure of what to say as he only gave a reluctant reply. She stormed off quickly back to the guild, leaving him there alone and dumbfounded.

 _'Wait what about my heart? I don't wanna die yet!'_ He screamed inwardly as he was slightly baffled about the fact of stealing his heart. It was an organ, why would she say about winning about it. He didn't put a price tag on his heart now did he?

Setting aside his thoughts about his health, he watched the white-haired barmaid disappeared into distance and smiled in relief. He was glad to have her along with him during those times. His bored expression was gone and he felt alive once again.

"Well then, where to go now?" He looked at the other direction as he began to pump his fists together, seemingly ready for a fight.

* * *

 _ **Somewhere in Phallan... At the Tharner mansion... (Two hours later..)..**_

"Damn him... Damn him to hell!" Arthur shouted in frustration from his table at his office. Apparently, he was in the middle of his tantrum against the pinkette who destroyed all of his plans to get his hands on Mirjane. He didn't really expect him to break the seal. It was specifically made to restrain their power but not their brute force. It was a complete miscalculation on his part. He didn't know the Salamander was this powerful.

"Arthur-sama. About the modified seals."

"Mass-produce them... We'll use it all against that guild and I'm gonna force them onto their knees to get Mirajane..." He paused

"...Use as many subjects as we can to accelerate the upgrade of those seals. If we ran out, go fetch some useless peasants and use them as experiments." He ordered lordly over the servant who immediately nodded at his master's response.

"As you wish, Arthur-sama."

"Also send me a letter for a disbanding order to Fairy Tail and send it to Crocus..."

"Of course, Arthur-sama."

And with that the servant went outside his room, leaving him alone in his office. He sat back to his comfy seat and stared at the open space with a devious expression in his face.

"Let's see if you can protect Mirajane with this.. Fairy Tail.." He growled menacingly as he grinned madly at his thoughts. He will definitely get her. And he will surely kill that peasant who gave him shame in front of her. Oh, he will regret making an enemy out of him.

 **"Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar!"** A rather familiar voice sounded outside his mansion which is loud enough of the people inside it to hear it. Then in an instant, a devastating large stream of fire and lightning went past Arthur's office, disintegrating the whole ceiling above him as the roar shot above him and destroyed have of the mansion.

"What in the name of-" He was cut off short as he saw a battered and slightly injured dragonslayer in his Lightning Flame Dragon mode coming from the destroyed part of his office.

"Wwooaahh! That was a fun fight. You really gave me a beating back there..." He smirked as he stretched his arms before looking at the shocked Tharner.

"What did you do. What happened to the Four Devils?"

"Ah, is that what you call those four I fought back there. I gotta be honest, they gave me quite the punch. It was fun." He smiled, getting Arthur to widen his eyes in disbelief.

"You don't mean..."

"Ah don't worry. They're fine. Just knocked out cold because they made me snap..." He walked over to him while Arthur was currently shivering in fear at the dragonslayer. He really did defeat his strongest bodyguards. Just what is he?

"W-What do you want?"

"Just came here to remind you what will happen if you walked near Magnolia again."

But Arthur smirked against his threat.

"Do you really think you can solve anything just by threats. Wait until the Capital and the Council comes here and I'll point them them that it was your doing. You don't know who you're dealing with boy... I'm Arthur Tharner and I have autho-" He was cut short as Natsu interrupted him.

"And?"

"W-What?"

"You can kiss your asses goodbye together with the Council and The Capital because we don't give a damn. It doesn't matter how many or how strong you send against us. We'll take them down no matter what even if it's a human or a god."

"You're challenging Fiore now is it? You're gonna regret choosing those words boy. No matter what you do, I'll always come on top over you rich piles of dung. You're all below me. Hahaha." He began to laugh hysterically as he boasts over his status towards Natsu.

 _'Tch, Ignorant bastard.'_

"You can't touch me, you can't send me to jail. You don't have the power!"

"I may not have the power but those three might." He casually pointed his finger outside the destroyed window which Arthur followed and saw three persons dressed in ragged clothes, running away from the mansion.

"Shit!" Arthur widen his eyes in surprise as he tried to run away to get those three but was unable to as he was grabbed at the back of his collar by Natsu.

"Oi where do you think you're going? Just sit back and watch will ya? It's nighttime and can you not enjoy the sky with me?"

"Get away from me bastard, I will not let those three get away. Not them!" He shouted desperately as he tried to get away from his grasp. But Natsu was annoyed so he flung him towards the wall and crashed painfully.

"So it's true after all... That you were experimenting on people about those magic seals..." He began to glare over the blond-haired man who was struggling to get back on his knees.

"No please. I will do anything please, just don't let them tell the truth." He pleaded but Natsu shadowed his expression.

"After what you've done to those guys and you're still begging. How about the people you killed in those experiments, did you not see them begging you to stop? Just how despicable are you? You're the worst human ever created in this world." He muttered angrily before turning around and walked away. It was then, Arthur slipped a magic knife from his coat and tried to stab the unsuspecting dragonslayer with it.

Natsu noticed as he simply flared in his Lightning Flame Dragon mode and backhanded the blonde-haired man with his lightning-enhanced flames and sends him crashing over a still sturdy wall, knocking him out cold.

* * *

 _ **Back in Fairy Tail... Nighttime.. (One hour later...)..**_

"So that's what happened?" A collective of shocks went through the two dragonlayers together with the Exceeds. Currently, they were listening in the middle of the barmaid's explanation about the situation earlier upon seeing each other. As Natsu had promised, she had to tell about the situation at the alleyway to clear any misunderstandings but she didn't tell the fact about the rest of their date. She doesn't want to join the fight yet. Not until she finishes what she really intended to do before her sister's return.

"So you and Natsu are not dating?" Sara asked.

"Yup." She lied as part of her question was half-true.

"Okay. For a second there I though you two were dating Mira-san." Wendy put up a huge sigh of relief as she got herself to clear up the misunderstanding earlier.

"Where's Natsu now?" Happy asked having to see the lack of a pinkette beside her.

"He said he had to go somewhere else. I don't know where though. He just said he will be back with us tonight."

"But it's already getting late. What if something bad happened to him?" Happy panicked.

"Don't worry Natsu can take care of himself. I mean, it's Natsu we're talking about here." Sara reassured getting the two girls to nod at her except for Happy. He wasn't convinced. Knowing Natsu, he might have done stupid again.

It was then the doors of the guild slowly creaked open, seemingly a figure is slowly appearing from the outside. The light of the guild didn't reach enough to the entrance, making them hard to recognize the person coming inside. Slowly, the figure made its way to the nearest light of the guild and the girls together with the Exceeds felt their eyes fall out of their sockets as they gaped in shock at the familiar person.

It was Natsu. He was battered and dirtied with little scratches on his some part of his body. His clothes were slightly tattered and it would seem like he had seen better days. He was holding unto some cane in his hands as an act of support to make him stand. He was really exhausted.

"I-I-I'm. . . . . h-home..." He muttered before falling down to the ground out of exhaustion.

"KYAA! ! ! Natsu!" Both three girls went over to the down pinkette and tended to his injuries. Happy and Charle joined in and examine his state and it seems he was still conscious.

"Are you alright? What happened to you?"

"Who did this? Natsu."

"Natsu-san. Get it together.." The worried pleas of his friends sounded through his ears as he tried to reach out a hand pointing at something.

". . .F.. ..od.."

"What?"

"F-Food..."

In an instant, both of their worried expressions came into a big sweatdrop.

 _'Did he just say food?'_

* * *

 _ **The next day...**_

Natsu chomped from food to food presented before him. He was really hungry since last night and his stomach grumbled loudly throughout his sleep. He wanted food nothing more on the start of the day and no one dared to interrupt his eating schedules. It was his 100th plate of the day and even though it's just started out in the morning, he's already formed a mountain of plates around him.

"Bwuah~ That hit the spot..." He smiled while patting his stomach which didn't even changed a little bump apart from those food. Sara and Wendy had to ask again in their thoughts; Where does it all go?

Apparently, he sat beside with his two teammates, consisting Sara and Wendy together with Happy and Charle. The day started out as a normal one and the events last night wasn't much discussed within the group since Natsu's craving for food at that time made them worry over nothing. They disregarded it even his injuries over some petty request.

"He sure is energetic now, after what happened yesterday with Mira-san." Sara remarked. She was still worried about it but seeing his usual behavior returned, she's perfectly fine with it.

"That's Natsu-san for you..."

"But does the whole guild know about Arthur?" Charle tried to ask the pinkette.

"Nope. It's better that we keep it ourselves..." He paused.

"..Plus, he won't be bothering us anymore.." He grinned, getting them to tilt their heads in confusion.

"Well I guess he had it coming because he's facing Natsu... You know what happens when he's around." Happy spoke proudly.

"Half of Magnolia gets blown?" Sara joked but the group laughed at the joke even for Natsu.

"It seems you three are having fun.." A bright voice sounded behind them, prompting them to turn around and smile.

"Yo Mira. How you doin'?" Natsu grinned.

"Feeling great I guess."

"Well we should've expected that. After all what happened between you two with that guy, it's natural for her to be smiling about it." Charle explained.

"And it was thanks to you, Natsu." Mirajane smiled gently before inching closer to him which caught the two dragonslayers' attention. Something tells them that, there's more to what she had explained to them last night. They knew it was a fake date but it seemed too real for them as they saw their friendly conversation and Mirajane's closeness to him.

"It's nothing really..." Natsu sheepishly replied before a loud bang resounded through the halls of the guild and saw the guild door fiercely opened, revealing Erza together with Elfman and Lisanna.

"We're back!"

 _'Lisanna...'_ Mirajane thought out in surprise at the sight of her sister.

"Yo Erza! You're back! I thought you were gone about two days?" Natsu called out as the three came towards the group.

"Well, the Council immediately approved my suggestion to send some guards to Raven's village, seeing it as a good idea to protect their citizens no matter how far they are from them."

"Oh yeah, I kinda miss Raven and Mirai back there." Natsu remembered but Erza earned a tick mark.

"Shouldn't you be more considerate to others other than them..." The redhead hissed in anger.

"I'm sorry..."

The group was back in exception for Gray who was still on the job. Lisanna and Elfman noticed Mirajane with the group and tried to greet her.

"Oh, hi Mira-nee."

"We're back Nee-chan."

"Welcome back you two. How's the mission?" Mirajane asked curiously.

"It was good. Elfman did scare our client though." Lisanna complained.

"I was just stating how unmanly he was because of his clothes." Elfman retorted, only to get a giggle from the Strauss siblings. He smiled after seeing this until Natsu came infront of them.

"Elfman fight me!" Natsu spoke.

"Real men never back down from a challenge!" He roared as he happily the friendly rivalry.

"Bring it on!"

It didn't take long for them as both males began to wrestle at the middle of the guild, catching a lot of attention and watched the fight. Team Natsu only watched in amusement since they find the whole fight amusing and uplifting. Lisanna and Mirajane were left alone at the scene as Elfman went off with the dragonslayer. Mirajane knew that she needed to take this chance and tell her.

"Lisanna? Can you come with me behind the bar? I have something to tell you." Mirajane spoke.

"Sure..."

The two slowly walked around the bar counter and went inside, away from the eyes of the guild. Lisanna closed the door leading to the counter as she faced Mirajane clearly who was staring at her with uneasiness.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Lisanna asked.

Mirajane hesitated. She can do it. She'll have to tell her everything. She wanted to be fair with her and she doesn't want to keep these feelings from her. She can't love Natsu if she doesn't revealed her feelings yet to Lisanna. As her sister, she wanted what's best for them and trust each other.

 _'You have to tell her the truth. At least, let her know because she trusts you.'_ His voice and advice came through her mind as she finally regained her courage.

"Lisanna. . . . .I have to tell you something..." She spoke before pausing as she took a deep breathe. Lisanna was unsure about what to do but she listened carefully.

"The truth is... I -"

 _'Say it.'_

"I - I - lo-"

 _'You can do it Mira. Let her know what you truly feel.'_

"I - I also love Natsu!" She lightly shouted briefly before bowing down to her apologetically. Lisanna was shocked as her eyes widen in surprise of her actions.

"... And I'm sorry f-for lying to you before... but I j-just can't... I really really l-l-love Natsu too. I hope you can forgive me for hiding it from you." She finished while still having her head down infront of her. She couldn't really face her after that revelation. She believed at Natsu's words and she just wanted apologize to her for her true feelings.

"Mira-nee please raise you head..." The younger Strauss spoke softly. Mirajane hesitated at first but complied as she slowly raised her head, revealing a soft and gentle smile coming from Lisanna herself.

"Took you long enough to say that." Lisanna smiled.

"W-What?"

"I already knew it from the start... I've known you for a long time Mira-nee. And I just waited for you to say that."

"B-But-"

"I don't mind you loving him. I'm not selfish. In truth, I felt happy that someone likes Natsu other than me."

"Happy?"

Lisanna nodded before continuing.

"We all care for Natsu and his well-being. We always do everything to make him happy and I've seen others doing the same..." She paused.

"...He always protects us, looks out for us, and even fights for our sake.. Is those traits of him made you to fall for him?" Lisanna teased only to get the older Strauss sibling to blush madly at her statement.

"W-W-What do you mean?"

"Aww. Don't be like that Mira-nee. I take it, something happened to your date yesterday."

"T-That's..." She trailed off in thought as she tried to remember the times she experienced with Natsu yesterday. Her train of thought was cut off short as Lisanna spoke that reminded her of something important.

"But I'm not gonna lose to you Mira-nee." Lisanna spoke as her smile turned into a determined expression towards the barmaid. Mirajane also smiled as she gazed at her little sister in determination.

"I would like to say the same thing to you too Lisanna." She smiled in determination as two Strauss siblings stood across each other, their smiles are very imminent until they broke into laughter.

"Funny how we fall in love to a very troublesome person who's very clueless about anything." Lisanna spoke.

"Yes. You're right, he's really an idiot but that makes him more lovable." Mirajane blushed as her words came out from her mouth unknowingly.

"We better head back..."

"Sure thing Lisanna."

The two siblings went out from the bar counter together before witnessing the whole guild erupted into another brawl. The normal days have returned, with only a major change on Mirajane's account.

"I'd better head back and change. I'll help you when I get back... okay?" Lisanna suggested before heading back to the back of the counter.

"Sure... and thank you for listening."

"No problem Mira-nee. See ya."

Lisanna went back, leaving only Mirajane and the Makarov who was holding a newspaper, seemingly reading something. Mirajane became interested as she slowly leaned over to the master.

"Is something wrong master?" She asked curiously as she looked over the headlines of the news.

"Well, it's just because of this." He spoke firmly before showing her a portion of the big news written on the newspaper. Her eyes widen in surprise at the incident written in it.

 _= = = = = HEADLINE NEWS = = = = =_

 _Tharners stripped out from their title as a well-trusted family in Fiore:_

 _Shocking news brings that the Tharners Corps. have been using innocent civilians as  
human experiments on their researched magic-seals. Three witnesses claimed as victims  
had testified to the Council which angered the Capital for such an atrocious act against human  
moralities. Gran Doma of the Magic Council immediately took action to arrest Tharners as it was  
_ _matter of utmost importance. It has also came to a shock that the Tharner Estate is left in ruins  
_ _as Ruin Knights came into the devastated place. Due to an investigation taking place, they  
revealed that the Estate was attacked by an unknown assailant. They found the director of the __  
_

_Tharners Corps, Arthur Tharner lay injured together with some evidence to confirm the claims.  
Arthur refused to speak to the media as he quietly accepted the punishment of life imprisonment  
implemented by the Council. The Capital greatly apologized to the people for having such an  
incident like this and swore in oath to never repeat the same thing again. _

_Much has needed to be answered about the unknown savior who managed to unearth one of Fiore's  
dark secrets. Just who is this person? What are his motives and most importantly, where is he now?  
The identity of the mysterious vigilante remains to be seen.  
_

 _= = = = = END = = = = =_ _  
_

Mirajane looked over the picture below and saw the devastated mansion of the Tharner Estate.

"Damn shame about politics these days." Makarov frowned at the thought as he grabbed a beer of mug in his arm and took quick sips from it before returning back to the newspaper. However for Mirajane, she thought something different about the news.

 _'Natsu did come in late last night... If that happened then that means-'_

A guild brawl interrupted her train of thought as she saw Natsu among the people inside the fray. She had yet to confirm it but she was sure about it. She remembered him saying he had to go somewhere.

Her thoughts clicked together as the pieces came into pieces and glanced once again at the fire dragonslayer having fun with the others. It was him. He did for her sake. She couldn't help but let out a small smile from her lips as she gazed over the dragonslayer in thought.

"Thank you Natsu..."

She proceeded back to the bar counter and began to make something. She will have to give something for him in return. Her smile was bright as she was clearly delighted. She will try her best to become devoted to Natsu, to the one she truly loves.

Meanwhile, Natsu was already on the table with his team except Gray and Lucy. He had finished his battle with Elfman and proceeded back as the rest of the other members joined in the fray. He didn't want any trouble for now. All he cares right now is food.

"So how did it go Erza? I mean, about Raven's village?"

"They already said yes. It's up to Ferrix-dono and Hikari-san to accept the request. It was for their own safety." Erza reasoned.

"Really? That's great! We should stop by for some time."

"And fulfill your promise with Mirai-chan." Happy cheered but, unintentionally broke off the good atmosphere between three girls with them as both of them choked on their tea.

"You're still going on about that Natsu?" Sara asked while keeping a steady composure.

"About what?"

Erza and Wendy sighed. Natsu is really dense in remembering every detail laid onto him and they were grateful from it. At least that promise must be kept within themselves not to the entire guild.

"Natsu!" A familiar bright voice emanated behind him, prompting him to turn around and saw Mirajane with a lunch box in her arms, wrapped in a white cloth.

"Oh hey Mira! What's that?" Natsu pointed out the lunch box curiously.

"Oh this. It's my well-made food. You want some? You can have it.." She smiled and in an instant, Natsu's eyes sparkled in delight.

"Really. Awesome! Your food always taste the best Mira!" He spoke happily as Mirajane gently placed it infront of him. She unwrapped the cloth around it before leaning in his ear discreetly for a whisper.

"Thank you for everything..."

Natsu heard her as she instantly leaned away before he could even react and present the lunch box before him.

"Enjoy your meal Natsu..."

"U-Uh Thanks... I think.." He reluctantly spoke as he scratched his head in confusion. What was that all about? He instantly shoved his thoughts about her aside as his attention went back the lunch box before him. He opened it slowly and could smell the aroma of the food. It tastes delicious and his nerves stimulated in the call of his hunger over the food.

After opening, the whole lid of the box, his face paled.

The food was consisted of meat and flames on the upper right of the box and at the center was a whole pack of rice with a decoration font of red spice that spelled, LOVE. Even Happy and Charle paled at the sight of his food from Mirajane.

And at that moment he knew he was dead as two dragonslayers behind him, began flaring up in their respective, intimidating auras with their hairs swaying upward due to the intensity of the aura, emanating from their bodies. But there's something or rather, someone more grave than those two. Natsu looked over the corner and saw the horror of his life. Erza was glaring at the food in irritation and began to glow much more venomous aura than the two and he sweated nervously because of it.

 _'Girls are very scary... And wait what?! Even Wendy? What the hell's happening?'_ He stuttered in disbelief as he saw the innocent bluenette joining with Sara and Erza from the scary sight.

"Natsu..." The voices of the two dragonslayers sent shivers on his spine as he sweated nervously out of fear. But it didn't end there.

"Care to explain why? Natsu." Another frightening voice sounded behind him as Erza was glaring over him at the other side, pitting him between three girls in both sides.

"U-Uhh. I-I-I don't know... Trust me!" He quivered. But it wasn't enough of an excuse for the scarlet knight as she brought up a giant hammer from her inventory seemingly aimed towards the poor dragonslayer.

"C-Can we just talk about this Erza!" He tried to reason but the three are beyond reason as the hammer swung downward towards him. He kept one last glance towards the smiling barmaid and tried to call out for help but he was too late.

"DIVINE PUNISHMENT! ! !"

"Gaaahhh! ! !"

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys. Mira is officially in the harem. Congrats to NaMi. (Applause*) And now we're finished to her arc but of course she'll have her comeback after a full circle. Look forward to the next female who would take Natsu by storm once again.**

 **About Mira's personalities, I just have a knack of returning her old self back while retaining her soft side at most times. And you know how it will turn out for Erza if her old self returns, WAR. Well not literally, their old rivalry would be reformed but Mira is more like the conservative one instead of the attacker since she has that kind and gentle personality.**

 **And of course, thanks guys for the fav, follows and the reviews about the story. I would like to thank you guys for this insanely fast update speed I'm having because I'm so much motivated. But school's coming next month and I think I cannot keep this up any further so I'll try to update as fast as I can by the end of this month so rest assured. Updates will keep flowing. :)**

 **Already rechecked every portion of my reading here. But I can't guarantee that most of it is found by my eyes.. -_-**

 **Did you like the story so far? Leave a review for your thoughts and fav. or even follow it to keep yourself updated about the new chapters. It's common courtesy and it serves as a strength of will to write this story more.**

 **See ya guys next chapter and stay awesome. :) I would very much like to listen to your opinions on this story. You can talk to me about it. I'll look forward in becoming friends with you guys and as a fellow writer on this community.**

 **\- PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ...**


	11. A Knight's Invitation

**A/N: HEY! Wassup my dear readers. Back again mwuahaha. You can't shove me away lol. But please, accept me as a fellow writer and friend :)**

 **Woohoo! Off to another arc and girl. Guess who? It's Erza Scarlet! Yes it's her turn whether you like it or not.**

 **NaZa Time! Give it up for NatsuxErza, as this was a ranking third shipping on my personal opinion. Now that sums up my three favorite pairings. :)**

 **And time to create my own name for the OC shipping to Natsu.**

 **\- NaSa = Natsu x Sara**

 **\- NaRai = Natsu x Mirai**

 **Don't forget them :) And support them in the future. I'm still working on the image for Mirai which would be posted on a side-story I'm creating for her after this story. Look forward to it :)**

 **And of course, I won't leave other girls since this just the start of everything. And Mira finally recognizes her feelings and joined the fight. Hurrah! Fight! We're on the roll ya?**

 **To be honest, business is booming haha thanks to you- (grabs a gun*) BANG* (Silence*) (Revives*)  
There goes my idiotic life, welcome to my second life. I'm more mature. Hope we get along. . . .again :)**

 **Anyway, here's chapter 11. Hope ya like it :)**

 **Disclaimer: For the love of Igneel, I would never own FT and its characters ever. Come on...I just own my OCs :)**

* * *

 **\- A Knight's Invitation -**

It was a normal life in Fairy Tail... Actually, it's not, after one big major change that happened in the last few days. The guild was still in its usual wild side as both mages have their respective arguments and reasons for fighting one another. But this day was never a normal one that they had originally expected as Mirajane and Erza have undergone into another argument near the bar counter. Unfortunately, it involved a particular someone who was meekly quiet all about it together with the rest. I mean, who would even dare to interrupt the two well-known "Demons" of Fairy Tail. It would be an utter sudden death for anyone who tried to intervene between them.

"I have to ask you again, stop pampering Natsu too much. He's not a baby Mira." Erza glared angrily at the barmaid who was keeping a calm expression despite the intimidating glare from the scarlet knight. She had no fear on her.

"Ara ara, it's like you're acting as her mother Erza-san.." She spoke calmly but everyone could see the devilish smile behind her face.

"It is my responsibility. I should be the one who would take care of him-" She was cut short as Mirajane spoke once again.

"Only at jobs. It's my turn to look after him when he's not on a job right Natsu?" She looked happily towards the dragonslayer who's at the center of the two S-Class mages, looking very sweaty and nervous.

"I-I, Uhh.. I-I don't what to say..." He quickly cowered. Despite being in her most gentle side towards him, Natsu wasn't able to keep himself comfortable at the tense atmosphere between them.

"It's okay Natsu. I'll cook you another food..." She softly spoke in her voice and gently traced her finger towards his chin to which he blushed at the intimate exhange.

Erza forcefully swatted her finger away in irritation.

"Stop spoiling him!" She shouted angrily but Mirajane had enough as her gentle smile finally disappeared and instantly replaced it with a cold, intimidating glare at the scarlet knight.

"Why do you always keep on interrupting me whenever I get a chance?" She had enough. It's like the same as before when they were kids.

"I'm not interrupting you, I'm only just preventing you from toying him too much..."

"That's not even making any sense. What are you trying do here Erza-san?"

"I'm not up to anything... I'm just trying to keep Natsu on a right path.."

"Are you telling me that I'm poisoning his mind?"

"That's right."

Before the heated conversation could escalate any further, Natsu manages to get himself away from the two S-class mages and retreated back to his friends who were sitting in a corner, watching in amusement and horror at the same time.

"Natsu..." Sara whispered as she saw the fire dragonslayer coming over to them. Natsu smiled in relief as he came over to them and sat beside the wind dragonslayer.

"That was close... I thought I was gonna die from it..." Natsu spoke peacefully for the first time as he slumped his arms wide and rested on the table. Apparently, most of the guild members were watching at the two arguing S-Class mages without the knowledge of their reason of why it had started. They didn't want to know but with every argument they heard from them, it's probably related something to Natsu.

"Are you alright Natsu-san.." Wendy asked worriedly over the dragonslayer.

"I'm fine. I just got tired everytime Mira and Erza fight." He nonchalantly spoke, unaware that he was the very sole reason of their every argument.

"Aye! It's like old times right Natsu?" Happy cheered as he watched the two females mages, entering another heated debate with each other.

"Mira-san was really like that before?" Wendy could only ask in wonder since she never found the gentle barmaid to be rebellious and possessive at her actions and seeing her like that for the first time, jumbled her point of view.

"Aye... She was like scary and she's the only one who could make Erza angry." The blue Exceed beamed.

"Sounds like a female version of Natsu and Gray to me..." Charle spoke at the thought.

"But still I'm quite surprised that Mira was starting share her other side more often... She was still the same peaceful Mira back then when I've gone to Crocus. Did something happen while I'm gone?" Lucy asked the others who only gave a reluctant reply at the celestial mage. They want to tell her and Gray about it but their secret must remain within themselves only.

"Well... you see.. It's kinda complicated..." Wendy spoke halfheartedly as she kept glancing to the side.

"Is that so? How about you Gray?" Lucy proceeded to ask her ice mage companion who was shrugging his shoulders, seemingly lost in thought. It also came as a surprise for her to see Gray to be able retain his clothes for more than an hour. Any time below that scale would always result him panicking over his clothes as he unknowingly stripped his clothes for no goddamn reason. Some say it's a work of an almighty "Stripping God" or just a habit he got from his late teacher.

Lucy frowned in thought as she saw him, completely occupied by his thoughts. His eyes gazed over the table without shifting it.

"Gray?"

...

...

The ice mage was able to snap back from his thoughts and took the attention of his friend. Just as Gray finally spoke to her, his clothes had suddenly disappeared in just a blink of a second, rendering him topless.

"O-Oh yeah. What is it?"

Lucy cursed herself inwardly for being such an idiot to expect things. She expected too soon about that freaky habit of his. It never changed. She had to begun her suspicions about his clothes though. Do they disappear whenever Gray starts a conversation?

"Before I ask anything, please find your clothes first!"

Gray simply shook his head and returned back to his gaze and close his eyes.

"Sorry..." He spoke in a monotone voice which prompted Lucy to look at him worriedly. Natsu and the others managed to noticed his unusual behavior.

"Hey Gray. You alright?" Natsu asked worriedly despite him being his rival.

"I'm fine... I'm just thinking about something..." He spoke in an unexciting tone which clearly shows that something's wrong with him today. After returning from a mission with Juvia, he started to change. He felt distant and dispirited around the guild. It's like he was deeply thinking about something.

It was then, Gray stood up from his seat and looked at his teammates with a blank look.

"I gotta go guys..."

"Where to?" Lucy asked.

"On a job..."

"Do you want company? At least, let Natsu come along with you.."

"Like hell, I would come along with that stripper..." The pinkette scoffed at the suggestion.

"Thanks, but I'd rather be alone. I'll see ya guys tomorrow." Gray spoke and left without saying much of a word between them. That statement alone was enough for them to notice that something's bothering him. Even Natsu was beginning to worry over his rival. Just what happened to him?

"That's pretty unusual for him to act like that..." Lucy spoke out in concern as she looked back to the rest of her teammates.

"I wonder what happened to Gray-san." Wendy spoke in worry.

"How about you Natsu? Do you know anything? " Sara questioned her fellow dragonslayer beside her.

"How should I know? He was like out for three days with Juvia on a mission and hadn't spoke since."

"Don't be like that. I know you're very worried too." Sara reasoned, getting Natsu to shrug his shoulders in thought. It's true he wanted to know what's happening on that stripper's head. It's not like he was trying to help out of pity for him, he just wanted to know what was the cause of the problem and get it over with. Even though they're rivals, he wanted to help him as he was part of the family.

...

...

"Well I guess, I'm kinda worried too. It's not like him at all..." Natsu frowned.

"We could ask him about it when he gets back..." Wendy spoke.

"Oh by the way, How's your trip in Crocus Lucy-san?" Sara asked curiously as she does not completely know about the celestial spirit mage's doing in her time back at the Capital. Lucy simply fell her head into the wooden table in depression.

"I failed..." She blankly spoke, having to remember the events what happened at Crocus.

"...My books didn't sold enough.. And my appeal betrayed me..."

"Rrriigghhtt..." Sara and Wendy drawled, not knowing what to react at her at the moment. It's better to keep it to herself too.

 **"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"**

 **"Take Over: Satan Soul!"**

Two familiar voices reverberated through the halls of the guild which prompted them to turn around in horror of the sight. Erza and Mirajane were actually butting heads together, very much like Natsu and Gray. What's worse is that they donned their magics, seemingly ready for a battle.

"Now you really done it. Erza-san..." Mirajane growled that sent every member of the guild a collective shiver of fright. And among those two, Sara and Wendy were already clinging to each other like two scared cats. Of course, they were the first ones who witnessed her scary voice firsthand. Happy was hiding behind Natsu, seemingly scared at the sight too.

"You know what? I honestly don't like you Mirajane."

"Oh what a coincidence, I happen to hate you too. You always get yourself in my way when I try to approach Natsu."

"Because I don't like you around him..." With that reason, Mirajane smirked. So that's why she was so upset whenever she tried inching herself close to Natsu.

"Hoh, is the mighty Titania afraid of losing?"

"What losing?" Erza asked irritably at the Take Over mage.

"You know what I'm talking about... You're afraid of losing Na-" Mirajane was cut short as Erza suddenly summoned swords around her vicinity, pointed at the demon barmaid.

"Uuuooo! Shut up! (Urasai!)" Erza frantically shouted in embarrassment as her face suddenly match that of her hair color and instantly drew the swords towards Mirajane.

The demon barmaid smirked as she hit the spot. She backed away and skillfully dodged the swords coming towards her, thereby missing their marks.

Everyone could've watch in amusement and enjoy about how a battle between two of their strongest female mages would turn out but. . . . They should be more worried about the swords coming in every directions, threatening to impale them any time. They widen their eyes large enough to nearly fall our of their sockets at the deadly swords coming towards them. They're dead, they're all fucking dead.

"Holy Shit! Run! Erza and Mira are at it!"

"Watch the swords!"

"Ahh! The guild's falling apart. Somebody help!"

"Master! Stop them!" A distressed voice of a random guild member pleaded to the master to stop but in vain as they all saw their master, completely drunk from his booze.

"That's the spirit! (Hic*) Rain more...(Hic*)... swords on me Erza!" He hooted in his drunken stupor.

"MASTER! ! !"

Natsu and the others could only hide from their tables as the deadly rain of swords pierced everything around them.

"Hiiieeee! ! !" Sara shrieked in panic as a sword pierced the table, almost reaching just a few inches from her face. And in an instant, she comically fell unconscious from extreme shock which made Natsu widen his eyes in panic over the wind dragonslayer.

"Oi! Sara. Wake up!" He shouted desperately as he held her limp body in his arms.

"At this rate, we're gonna get stabbed too." Lucy called out in panic as a mixture of swords and dark magic enveloped the area.

"Natsu do something!" Happy shouted beside his partner with a terrified look.

"What the hell am I suppose to do?"

"Talk some sense to them... At this rate, the guild will collapse...Don't worry, Erza and Mira will listen to you... I guarantee it."

"Ah fuck! Alright, alright." He reluctantly accepted the plea as he gently laid down the passed out blonde-dragonslayer and began to make his way towards raging female duo. Coming near them seems to be the biggest mistake of his life. And what's more, can they really listen to him quietly without having to suffer anything physical or verbal? This is turning out to be some quite of a suicidal path for him. He would never dared to interrupt those two and he would rather sit back and watch as those two battle it out even with the risk of being impaled by a sword.

To be honest, watching two strongest female mages of Fairy Tail would be a very interesting spectacle for him. He really never seen them fight seriously so some part of him wanted to see how it will all turn out.

But he had seen enough, the guild is torn and the floors are all broken from the downpour of swords and the pillars supporting the 2nd floor aren't that sturdy anymore. And their damned Master isn't taking any measurable actions to stop it. He might have to remind himself not to give him any more booze.

The intensity of the two females' auras were overwhelming as they were engaged in a power struggle with both faces determined to defeat each other. He doesn't how it actually turn out into some kind of duel. One time, they were just arguing and now, they were already at each other's throats. Needless to say, it was a sight to see but you couldn't ignore the shiver creeping onto your spine every time they grit their teeth in anger.

They're so much scarier than two Erzas back at Edolas.

"Armored bitch!"

"Demon wench!"

"Ms. Goody Two Shoes!"

"Shameless demon!"

"Well, I don't mind about being called like that as long it's Natsu..." She smirked.

"Pervert!"

Insults between females sounded through Natsu's ears as he wished he didn't hear anything all about that but his heightened ears didn't let him do so. Curse these dragon ears of his. There are some things in this world, not worth listening for.

Mirajane and Erza broke away from their clash as they began to charge up their respective spells against each other with latter requipping into her Lightning Empress Armor and accumulated mass amounts of lightning magic in her spear to match up the dark magic of Mirajane.

"This is the end Erza! !"

"Same goes to you Mira! !"

Natsu noticed their little fight is starting get out of hand. If this continues, the guild will be blown to who-knows-what's-left-of-it. He started sprinting between them as he raised his hands on both sides, seemingly to make them stop, shocking the two female mages.

"WAIT A MINUTE THERE! DON'T DO IT HERE!" He shouted.

"(Baka!) Idiot! Get out of the way!" Mirajane and Erza shouted in panic as they tried to redirect their magic trajectory away from the fire dragonslayer but they were too late. A large stream of dark magic and lightning wave suddenly blasted from their weapons as Natsu stood there witnessing two deadly elemental attacks closing on him in a fast pace.

"Eh?"

 _'Oh crap... Well.. shit... I'm done for.'_ He paled as he knew this was going to happen to him if he'd intervene. He could guess that this is what really happens when you tried to break a fight between two demons. All that's left is to entrust his life to Igneel. There's nothing much he can do about his situation.

 _'I swear that when I come out here alive, I'll never interrupt their battle ever again.'_

What happened after that, resulted an explosion of both dark and lightning that enveloped the unfortunate dragonslayer who happen to be in the middle of it. Happy and Lucy shook their heads in a comical way as their faces wore a sympathetic look at the sight before them.

"Rest in Peace Natsu... You lived well."

* * *

 _ **At Fairy Tail's medical room... Nighttime (5 hours later...)**_

Natsu didn't know if he was already dead. He felt like he had been spending himself wandering through the blackness of the world around him. There was nothing to see as he could only see the thickness of the darkness around him. How long is he going to sleep? He hoped that he really doesn't die from that attack. He can't die yet, not until he found Igneel and punch those Council guys out of frustration.

Slowly his vision started to see a faint glimmer of light shining its way infront of him.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at a bright lacrima-powered light above the ceiling of an unknown room. His eyes shifted sideways to look at the surroundings and saw multiple white sheets of beds laid from his side and some across him. He's never been inside a medical room since he is being healed constantly by Wendy when he suffers an injury and rested by his house so it's kind of a new place for him. His memories about the fight are blurred and groggy. He could not remember how he came here.

He cringed in pain as he felt his body shot up jolts of pain as he made a slight twitch from his previous position. Shit, since when did he had this kind of injury? He was currently covered with a blanket and he could see he has some bandages strapped onto his cheeks and some from his arms.

"You're awake." A soft, gentle voice spoke beside him, prompting him to shift his head and saw Mirajane sitting patiently beside him with a sleeping Happy cuddling her arms.

"M-Mira?" He murmured but she quickly shushed him as he pointed a finger on the other side of his bed.

His eyes slightly widen in surprise upon seeing Erza resting peacefully with her arms crossed beside him, supporting her head atop of it. Her scarlet hair cascaded down from her back and her bangs slightly covered her face as she rested her head sideways.

"Erza..." He muttered.

"We've been waiting for you to wake up. How're you feeling?" She asked worriedly while keep a silent tone to avoid, waking up the scarlet knight.

"I'm quite fine but I'm aching all over. What happened?"

"You tried to dissuade us from fighting but we accidentally shot our magics against you."

Upon hearing that, his memories slowly came back to him. Oh yeah, he was right between them trying to stop their fight. Unfortunately, he was caught up in their final attack. On the bright side, they probably stopped since they're no longer fighting now.

But still, being hit by not one but two final spells of two strongest mages is actually an achievement. I mean, he survived those deadly attacks just now and he could assume that he has a chance against them. That's kinda awesome for him though he had to stop moving a lot, his body is in the state of painfulness that he had to endure for now.

"Well that sucks... What happened after that?"

"The guild fights stopped. We had to get you to the Medical room as soon as possible. Even with Wendy and Sara's healing magic, you still suffered more injuries."

Natsu wanted to take back his word earlier. Nope, he's not gonna make their spells as some sort of measuring scale.

"Is it really that serious?"

"Everyone's worried sick Natsu." Mirajane was starting to cry as some tears are threatening to flow out from her eyes. Natsu noticed how much his family worry over him. He should really stop taking this the funny way. His injuries seemed like it was no joke either.

"Hey don't cry. I'm alright now."

"We were so worried because you didn't wake up and I thought I-"

"Please don't. I hate seeing you cry. I hate seeing my friends cry okay? Please smile for me... It's not your fault nor Erza's. It was an accident, I don't really care." Natsu spoke firmly stopping her as he looked at her worriedly.

"B-But if not for Sara and Wendy then you-"

"How many times do I have to tell you that it was accident? Idiot... (Baka...)" Natsu smiled as he reached out a light bop to her head, making her widen in surprise.

"Natsu..."

"No one's to blame okay? It's alright now. I don't even care what happened back there. So don't blame yourself. I'll be okay after a few days, I'm a dragonslayer. I heal faster than any human." He stated proudly of his magic which somehow made her to chuckle at his prideful self.

"Fufufu, that's so much like you Natsu." Mirajane smiled, having her tears to seemingly stop flowing as she found herself entertained by him.

The two talked for a moment about each other as Natsu felt slightly better from his injuries after talking with her. But their conversation had to end as Mirajane stood up from her seat beside him and held Happy in her arms.

"I have to go back to Lisanna and Elfman. I'll take Happy as well. I'll make sure I'll take care of him for the night. So just rest easy okay? If you want to go home, have Erza accompany you okay?"

"Okay... Thanks Mira...and also for taking care of Happy. I appreciate it." He smiled, getting the barmaid to blush before looking back at him warmly.

"No problem. . . . .Well then I'll be off. Get well soon Natsu.."

"Sure thanks." He went back to cover himself to cover himself with his blanket. Suddenly, he felt a soft kiss planted on his cheeks as Mirajane silently went back to him and leaned on her kiss on him.

Natsu widen his eyes in surprise, having to let his guard down once again at that sudden attack from the barmaid. He was about to turn around until Mirajane whispered to his ear.

"That's my second time... Next time won't be the same place..." She smirked getting Natsu blush at her smooth yet intoxicating voice. She leaned back and smiled at him.

"Goodnight Natsu." And with that she quickly made her way out of the guild and went home with Happy.

Meanwhile, Natsu was left dumbstruck and worried at the same time. He was caught off guard again and failed to raise his alarm against the barmaid. Man, she had too many ways on how to make him lower his guard. Doing things like that unexpectedly to him could bring him unwanted attention. And what's more, he was extremely worried about the last part of her sentence.

 _'What did she mean by that?'_ Whatever it is, he knew he wouldn't be safe if he let himself get carried away. He had to watch Mirajane more often if he's going to survive this ordeal.

He set aside his thoughts about the white-haired barmaid as he went to look over the sleeping scarlet knight. Her faint breathing is heard by his ears and he could see her peaceful face dozing away with her dreams and she seems so...innocent and beautiful. It's like her scary and stern facade was never really a thing when she's like this. It's a whole different Erza in his eyes. He gotta admit though, she kinda looks like an angel when she sleeps like this-

 _'NO! Don't be deceived Natsu. She might be an angel on the outside but she's a demon by heart. Don't forget the times she pummeled you to the very inch of your life! Focus Natsu... Focus...'_ He slapped his thoughts in shame as he tried to take off his scary depictions of the scarlet knight but after all what happened in the past few days involving girls around him, he had suffered unexpected and unlucky outcomes and probably misunderstandings in his account.

Mirajane is trying every move she can take to catch him off guard do something unexpectedly, Sara and Wendy are like twin sisters and would really pinch both sides of his cheeks whenever he says something great to another person especially a girl. He had to worry for the latter though. He never really thought Wendy would be the one who would get herself so worked up over anything. And now, Erza would use every bits of her power to knock him out when he did something to make her uncomfortable. And for some reason, he had a problem with Mirai though he can't quite point out the reason behind it.

...Girls are so troublesome... No wonder why Igneel never talked about it. Did he have a bad experience with other female dragons before he met him?

He had to shove away his thoughts about girls as he saw the scarlet knight slightly shifted in her sleep. He smiled as he slightly moved his hands to fix her bangs to reveal her face more clearly to him.

He was slightly surprised as he saw Erza smiled while doing it but it ended up costing him. The scarlet eyes slightly open her eyes, seemingly awake which shocked him. She looked at him in wonder while he paled in the process. He knew Erza never liked being caressed while asleep and he had done it in a wrong time.

To his surprise, Erza took hold of his hand and placed it on her cheek affectionately.

"So warm..." She muttered.

"Eh?"

...

...

That simple word alone somehow got her attention as her mind finally came back to her. She was half-asleep.

"Natsu?"

"G-Good evening Erza. Can I have my hand back now?" Natsu reluctantly asked.

Erza was slightly confused at the question but she had to look around her arms and saw she was actually holding his hand and greatly blushed as she had it onto her cheeks.

"WaAaaaH! I'm sorry." She frantically shouted as she let go of her grasp on his hand and panicked before the fire dragonslayer.

"Nah it's alright."

"No. I'm the one who's at fault here. If you may, you can hit me for my rude actions." Erza bowed her head seemingly, wanting some punishment for her actions.

"Alright..." Came a reply from the dragonslayer.

Erza was prepared for anything as she closed her eyes from the incoming punishment but she felt nothing. Instead, she felt a small and gentle hand-chop from her head as the pinkette simply gave a gentle hit on her part.

"That's for being so persistent. I told you it's alright."

It took only for her to realize as she suddenly blushed at the gentle touch of her head. She turned herself away from the pinkette since her face was starting to turn beet red.

 _'Calm down Erza. Calm down. It's only a hand-chop. Why are you so getting worked up over it?'_

She quickly calmed her thoughts as she glanced back at him.

"How're you feeling Natsu?" She asked, having herself slightly disturbed over the bandages strapped on his cheeks.

"I'm alright now." He tried to sound okay but his pain gave away his claim.

"You shouldn't overdo yourself. Just rest okay?"

"Okay..."

Their conversation ended as both mages don't have anything to say to each other. Silence flooded the atmosphere as the lack of conversation between them continued. Erza knew she had to talk about something so she had to take the initiative.

"Natsu. About what happened ealier, I-"

"Don't say it." She stopped halfway as Natsu cut her off with a serious expression.

"I don't blame anyone what happened. It's an accident so it's okay. Don't feel bad about it." He laid down on his bed and shifted sideways, facing his back on her.

"How're your injuries?"

"Still sore but I'll live. You're not going home?" He asked curiously.

"I'll accompany you for tonight after all what we've done to you..."

"You can't just stand there waiting for me to sleep. You can sleep on the next bed."

"Nope I insist."

Natsu didn't speak any further. Instead, he just went back to face his side. Tch, what a persistent woman. Well, same thing could be said about him since he doesn't stop helping his friends even though they find it irritating and annoying. But in the end, they appreciated it since it came out as a good result to their problem when he's involved. He shifted himself again as he found his bed quite hard for him to rest. If there's some place where he could sleep peacefully in times like this, it would be Lucy's bed or his hammock back home.

"I'm going home..." He spoke, getting the scarlet mage's attention.

"Let me help..." She stood up and went beside him.

"Nah, it's fine. I can do it." He denied her offer as he sat up from his bed and tried to stand slowly. He stood up straight before giving a deep breathe before putting his next foot on the floor. In an instant, his legs felt wobbly as the strength of his legs suddenly vanished and felt limp.

He widen his eyes in surprise at the sudden change of his strength and closed his eyes, hoping for an impact to the floor with his head but no such contact came. Instead, he was grabbed by the scarlet knight by his shoulders who managed to get hold of him before falling.

"Don't be stubborn. Come on, I'll take you home." Erza spoke softly, unknowingly earning a slight blush from the fire dragonslayer.

..Weird..

The two slowly make their way towards the door and opened it. Apparently, they were on the second floor of the guild. Something where S-Class quests are found and those people who haven't achieved their S-Class status are forbidden to enter but in his case, was exceptional since only wounded mages are permitted to enter the second floor, specifically at the medical room only. No wonder why Erza and Mirajane are the first ones he saw after his awakening. He didn't know about his Exceed but it seems he's permitted to come since they're partners.

The guild below was already empty and the lights below were the only ones shining at the bar counter. Everything else is shrouded in darkness. The tables and chairs are back to their usual places. The floor's fixed almost instantly apart from what he had remembered earlier as it was like a torn battleground due to a certain two female mages fighting off one another. He might have to ask Gramps tomorrow of how he fixed the place in such a short time.

"Everyone went home..." Erza explained.

"I know... I wanna go home too."

Erza nodded as she proceeded to help the fire dragonslayer as they slowly took their steps carefully one at a time on the stairs. It took a few minutes for them to get down to the ground floor as they were just about the empty bar counter.

"Thanks Erza..." Natsu suddenly spoke out of appreciation to the scarlet knight who turned to him in surprise.

"For what?"

"For helping me... I'd really needed it."

Erza understood and nodded contently as she motioned herself with Natsu as they once again began to walk by the door slowly.

"You can thank me later..."

The two opened the guild doors as it made a loud creaking sound as the two departed from the empty guild and into the dark streets of Magnolia itself.

The town was utterly quiet as there are no more people roaming around the dark town. Lacrima-powered streetlights shown on every corners of the streets, showing clear paths to every places of the town. Erza and Natsu continued their way to the street as his arms are wrapped around the scarlet knight's neck for support. They took careful steps one at a time to make Natsu comfortable with their walk. His body has not fully recovered ever since taking a full hit from their powerful spells.

Erza cursed herself for being so careless around her surroundings. She was supposed to look after him, not cause him trouble. Yet, she only gave him more trouble but the fire dragonslayer keeps on letting go of her mistake so easily like he didn't even took a careful look at what they did to him.

You could say that Natsu takes the pain all for himself if it meant saving their happiness. He would take that risk alone to make the smiles on their faces to last longer.

 _'Live for my sake Erza... Smile for my sake Erza... Don't ever throw away your happiness...'_

His words of encouragement that kept her heart strong for these past few years, returned back to her as she began to contemplate about the fire dragonslayer beside her who was looking innocently above the sky. For some reason, she felt a warm feeling creeping into her heart whenever she's close to him.

"The sky is clear tonight... It's my first time seeing it. What's those tiny twinkling things out there again?" He asked curiously at the redhead who chuckled on her account which is completely unusual for her to do, though Natsu doesn't notice that change as he was preoccupied about the question.

"Those are called stars..."

"Stars huh? Oh I remember! How could I forget?"

"I'm not actually surprised that you've forgotten about it... You're still an idiot." Natsu just groaned at the common insult.

"Is that how you guys think about me?"

"Of course."

"You're all mean. I wish Igneel would show up now..." Again, the scarlet knight chuckled despite it being uncommon from her strong figure before him.

They continued on their journey again as silence enveloped the atmosphere between them but it's not much awkward for the two of them. They just don't have anything else to talk about each other. More like because they rarely speak so casually to each other which something that Erza regretted because she's been busy about the S-Class jobs. She would've tagged him along with him on her quests but the feeling of being separated from the team is something she should consider first for his sake. Natsu depends so much on his friends and fight together with them.

If one member is missing, it would've make the dragonslayer to become dispirited.

"So what are you and Mira arguing about?" Natsu suddenly spoke, catching the redhead off guard.

"A-Ah that... W-Well, it's about-" She had to stop though, she doesn't want to tell that it was him, they were arguing about earlier.

"Hmm?" Natsu tilted his head in confusion as he found her reply quite disconnected from one word after another.

"Well it's just that Mira's been more like her old self you know what I mean..."

"Yeah... Is her old personality is what makes you angry?"

"Sometimes..." She spoke. It was then Natsu chuckled at her answer, getting herself to be slightly confused.

"That's just like you from before when you and Mira used to fight one another." Erza slightly twitched her brow in irritation. She never really liked the fact of mentioning their fight years back because it serves as a shameful taste in her current self. She was easily provoked by the demon barmaid and would lose her temper whenever she mentions her stuffs infront of everyone. Like they said, Mirajane is the only one who could make Erza draw her sword when it comes to arguing.

"Well, you and Gray never changed since you were kids." She huffed.

"I don't get what you mean?"

"Fufufu, you really are an idiot Natsu." Erza chuckled, making him tilt his head in confusion.

"But I guess, at least it's good thing for us that the old Mira is back."

"How is it a good thing for us? You should at least take a look at your current self."

"Ah, come on, the more pain, the more better."

"Are you a masochist by any chance?" Erza deadpanned. She would really never think of him as a type of person who enjoys pain.

"What's a masoshit?" He asked incorrectly.

A bop to his head soon followed.

* * *

 _ **Natsu and Happy's house... Nighttime... (A few minutes later..)..**_

"Home..." Natsu cried in full joy as he saw his house before him. Oh how he missed this house. He was always sleeping onto Lucy's apartment or sometimes at the guild because he really doesn't have anything to do inside it. He only returns here to post every memorable item that reminded him of his every quests that gave him significance of that part. Something to be worth reminiscing his memories in those times with his friends.

They paced a few more feet towards the house with a neat doormat, shaped like a fish that read "Welcome." on it. The walls of the house is currently overrun by moss and plants that sprouted in its sides. The red-tile roof supporting the house above wasn't safe either as it was covered in lush green plants that grows out from the top.

"It's been a long time since I stopped by your house Natsu." Erza spoke.

"Y-Yeah. Me too, I think it's kinda messy inside since I haven't been coming back too often."

"I can clean it up for you."

"Really? I don't wanna burden you Erza or anything..." Natsu asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it Natsu. I'm taking care of you until tomorrow so let me do the work okay... I can't have you overexerting too much." Erza smiled, giving off some slight tinges of pink from her cheeks at the statement.

"Okay... At least, let me stand up on my own." Natsu proposed, getting the scarlet knight to nod in response. She let go of Natsu's arm as he found himself able to stand up straight without her help. Dragonslayers sure has some high-speed regeneration abilities. Needless to say, she was quite surprised. For him to be able to recover somehow from two deadly attacks in a swift amount of time was a great sign for her. At least, she doesn't have to worry about his injuries.

"Wait for me outside. I'll clean this up okay?"

"Sure..."

Erza smiled at the dragonslayer who gave a toothy grin in response. She proceeded by the door and opened it. But what she saw inside made her jaw drop to the ground hard.

The interior of his house was surprisingly clean. The floor was neatly swept as there's no trace of any speck of dust around it. The dishes are all clean at the sink, seemingly done recently. His hammock was placed perfectly from the small round pillar to the wall, his lifting items are placed in a small crate, a sofa was placed just below the window and a large, round mat is placed at the hall.

Erza could only gape in surprise at the sight. It was then she saw a small note stuck on the pillar where his hammock's connected to and plucked it off. She looked to the contents on the small note and could only scoff at the piece of paper.

* * *

 _= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = LOVE = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =_

 _Sorry barging in without permission. I just_

 _wanted to make sure you're comfortable when_

 _you get back home. I already cleaned the dishes and_

 _left a set of clothes for you at the shelf. Have a good sleep_

 _Natsu._

 _\- Love Mirajane -_

 _= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = LOVE = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =_

* * *

Erza clenched the paper in anger as her head is on the brink of blowing over due to the steaming rage accumulating in her mind. Her reddish aura was already prominent as it glows from her body in rage. What's more irritating is the heart shape sticking out from its outlines.

 _'That damn woman! ! !'_

She screamed inside her thoughts at the white-haired barmaid.

"Erza, you done ye-woOOaAAH!?" Natsu came inside without asking to see what happened but was cut short after witnessing his room, unexpectedly clean in an instant. The scarlet knight looked back at him with a nervous look as she quickly hid the note behind her ironclad hands as she tried to make a straight face over the dragonslayer.

"Natsu!"

"Wait a minute Erza, you cleaned whole place?" He asked curiously as he saw her seemingly standing at the center of the hall. He didn't notice the sweating face of the redhead as she nervously tried to come up with an answer to his question.

"I-I-I, W-Well... T-The thing is..."

The scarlet knight felt herself being pulled by two opposite sides of her consciousness. One consisting of a good one while the other, a bad one.

 _*Good Erza* = Tell him the truth, he will trust you more if you're honest with each other..._

 _*Bad Erza* = No! Lie to him. Tell him how good of a housewife you are... That barmaid doesn't stand a chance._

 _*Good Erza* = Good will come to those who are honest and noble. Stay on the right path..._

 _*Bad Erza* = Ah, come on. Screw nobility! One day you're gonna do those 'things' with him. Plus, you have to be faster before that barmaid stole his innocence._

 _*Good Erza* = That's going too far! Don't listen to her..._

 _*Bad Erza* = Think about all about the things you could do with him alone. That would be romantic and ecchi at the same time is it?_

 _*Good Erza* = Stop corrupting her..._

 _*Bad Erza* = I can do whatever the fuck I want, Goody Two Shoes!_

 _*Good Erza* = Why you-_

Unfortunately her conscious sides didn't bring much help to her as they have undergone into a catfight leaving the topic at hand. Instead, they only left her with a great shade color of red on her face after all what her bad side had told her earlier. Her lewd thoughts together with the dragonslayer began to show up in her minds uncontrollably.

 _Feeling under the heat as they both unbuttoned their clothes and pressed each other's bodies before emanating a seductive yet satisfied moan that resounded the halls of his house._

 _Iyaan~_

 _'NOOOOOO! ! ! ! !'_

 **(Slaps Face*)**

Erza took a hard and painful slap to herself as her minds are overwhelming her sanity. Too close, very too close. Her mind isn't setting up straight at the moment.

Natsu sweatdropped as he watched his scarlet companion hurting herself in the process. What's wrong with her? He could see her face heating up in deep red as she couldn't keep a straight gaze towards him due to her thoughts attacking her noble side.

"E-Erza?"

At that moment, the scarlet knight was able to snap back from her thoughts while keeping her flustered face towards him

"Y-Yes Natsu!" She answered in attention without any hint of stern or authority in it. It's like she's just a normal girl with a broken thought.

"Sooo. . . .Did you clean the house?"

Erza was too much overwhelmed by her thoughts earlier as she was pressed again with the most controversial question tonight. She just wished the night should've gone sooner. Her face was sweating nervously as she was forced to choose a decision.

...

...

...

Natsu looked at her worriedly as he heard a lack of answer from her for some quite time now. Just as he was about to ask again, Erza finally answered.

"Y-Yes..."

"Cool! Thanks Erza."

Natsu cheered happily as he went inside with her and smiled warmly at her that made her blush even more.

"I'll go prepare some dinner. You can wait at the table okay?" He spoke.

"O-Okay..." Came a very shy reply which somehow made Natsu tilt his head in confusion but he was occupied at the thought of cooking so he easily shoved it off from his mind and proceeded at the kitchen, leaving the light-headed redhead at the hall.

 _*Bad Erza* = See, what did I told you? It takes some underhanded tactics to win a man. Haha-guuhagh-_

 _*Good Erza* = Shut up... I'm disappointed in you Erza. Where's your sense of justice in this?_

 _*Bad Erza* = Ah, blow over. This is just the start Erza. Next is, wear something skimpy or even stripped down naked in front him, let him indulge your delicious body, he cannot resist-guuhhaaugh_

 _*Good Erza* = Stop it you slut!_

Curse these perverted thought of hers. Even her good side doesn't stand a chance against her bad side. She felt like she was talking to herself now as she felt pity for her good side. Temptations are hard to overcome even for her especially at the matter involving Natsu. As a matter of fact, her two conscious sides are turning quite to be a comedic exhange rather than giving her any advice. Well, she did received some advice, a very bad and perverted advice.

 _'I'm sorry my good side...'_

It took a couple of minutes for Natsu to finish cooking as he came out from his kitchen with two plates on his hands. The aroma of the food stimulated her nose as she smelled a perfectly grilled meat. Natsu placed the plate before her while placing his on the other side of the table.

"Sorry, I don't have any ingredients in the kitchen so I had to cook some meat instead."

"I-It's nothing Natsu. There's nothing more I can ask from you. I accept."

"Oh, I'm glad..."

Natsu smiled as he begun to dig into his own food. Erza soon followed as she took small bits of meat and put it in her mouth, chewing carefully to enjoy every taste of it. The dinner between the two continued as Erza kept stealing quick glances on the pinkette who was peacefully enjoying his own food. For some reason, she couldn't just take her eyes off from him. Her cheeks are starting to return its pink color while her heart had started its wild pounding that could be mistaken by a heart attack if she was consulted to a healer.

The fire dragonslayer somehow noticed her gazing at him for some quite some time now so he turned his attention away from his food and looked at her curiously.

"Is something wrong Erza?"

The scarlet knight however, jolted from her seat as she looked sideways with her flustered face hidden from him.

"N-Nothing." Natsu tilted his head in confusion at her sudden action. He was too dense to realize even the slightest things so he had just to ignore it and went back to his seat and resume his eating process. Again, Erza slowly made a short glimpse of him. And for Natsu, he sensed the same vibe again of being watched but he needs to concentrate on his food first.

The two finished their foods as Natsu and Erza placed their plates at the sink. Natsu had begun to wash the plates they used in courtesy for (Mirajane's) Erza's hardwork on cleaning his house. He doesn't want to tire her after doing all this. As he was washing a plate, Erza scooted over to his side with an apron.

"Let me help..."

"Uhh. O-Okay..." He reluctantly accepted before handing out the magic-embedded soap to her as he finished his plate and was about to rinse it with water.

They never talked as the sound of the faucet pouring out water to the sink and the clinking sound of plates resounded through the silent house. It was then Erza had to break the silent atmosphere between them and spoke to initiate their conversation.

"I never took you to be good in washing dishes..." Erza remarked, seeing the uncommon action of the pinkette beside her.

"Well, I just kinda learn it from observing Mira for all these years but I rarely do it because I just practice everyday."

"What for?"

"Well, I aimed to become stronger to protect my comrades and my friends precious to me..." He paused.

Erza should've expected that answer but for some reason she was surprised by it like she was the first one to hear such answers from the fire dragonslayer.

"... And of course, to defeat you too."

"Eh?"

"I wanted to have duel with you Erza when I get stronger enough." He smiled warmly back at the scarlet knight who stopped her doing as she looked at him in wonder.

That's right. He always trains himself to fight her someday and recognize him as a fellow opponent. He strives to become stronger and surpass her. That's just who he is. And that part of him makes her to feel safe whenever she's around him. His bright and fiery attitude that he displays in every fight gives the others a sense of respect since Natsu recognizes them as his equal enemies. That alone was enough for her to notice him as a very important existence in her life. She doesn't know why but she just had to urge to become closer to him.

Unaware for the scarlet knight, Natsu was already looking at her worriedly.

"Umm. Erza? Is there's something wrong with my face?"

"N-Nothing..." She quickly turned her gaze away from him and went back to the dish.

"You're acting really strange today Erza..." He spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how to put it... You sound like, you're acting like a pretty cute girl or something like that.." He poked his head, trying to seep every possible word he can describe of the redhead tonight. His oblivious nature however, prevented him from noticing a deep shade of crimson red from the cheeks of the scarlet knight who suddenly blushed at the compliment.

He called her cute and pretty. Yes, she is fluttered but she had to control her emotions from threatening to flow out. Emotions are like huge dams, waiting to come out without her knowledge and came rushing to her mind in one sweep that ended her flustered depending what kind of emotion she was holding.

"Oh now that I think about it, I kinda recalled what I read at Lucy's book the other day."

Erza was cut off from her train of thought as she listened to the dragonslayer.

"What is it?"

"I think, I read one from her romantic-thingy books that a girl who always helps around a boy's house means something..."

"What does it mean?"

"Well something called 'acting like a housewife' or something like that.."

Upon saying that, Erza's face rose up as she took a step back while shaky pointing finger at him.

"W-W-W-What are y-you saying? I-I'm not acting like a housewife!"

"Hey calm down. It's just a thought.." His words however went unheard from the scarlet knight who blushing madly and kept muttering under her breath.

"I'm not a housewife...I'm not a housewife...I'm not a housewife..."

"Erza?"

"I'M NOT A HOUSEWIFE! ! ! !" Erza shouted in defiance as she tried summoning multiple swords around her and Natsu knew that he will not last if he didn't manage to calm her down.

"OI! ! CALM DOWN! YOU'RE GONNA DESTROY MY HOUSE!"

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

Natsu and Erza went over the sofa as it was getting late. After the whole predicament, they managed to calm down especially for the flustered redhead.

They presently talked about something with each other and later spent themselves happily conversing to each other. They laughed and recalled some of their memories together and the battles they have faced together. For them, it felt peaceful to be able to talk to each other once again. Natsu's fear on the scarlet knight slightly disappeared since he saw her mysterious behavior throughout the night. He didn't know why but she looks more friendly and open to him more often and would even chuckle with him which he finds it shocking after witnessing it for the first time.

She was Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail, one of the strongest mages in their guild and she had just chuckled infront of him...

"Well I might as well get going..." Erza finally spoke as she had finished her part in taking care of him.

"It's getting late... You can sleep here.."

The scarlet knight stopped by the door, before hearing the request from the fire dragonslayer.

"Is it okay for you?" Erza turned back on him.

"I don't mind..." He smiled...

"W-Well I guess I could stay..." She reluctantly replied but on the inside she was overjoyed that he offered her to stay the night.

Natsu went back to the kitchen to grab something while Erza had changed to her red-striped pajamas from her Requip Magic as she held unto a soft, plushy red heart pillow on her arms. She also took out a small mattress from her inventory and placed it at the hall beside the sofa for her make-shift bed. Normally, she would've thought it as some sleep-over but with a boy, it's a whole different matter.

Before, she doesn't mind sleeping with Natsu or Gray but now she felt nervous sleeping in the former's house.

Natsu returned back before gaping his eyes seeing Erza in her night clothing. What's more important is that she's holding a heart-shaped pillow on her arms.

"What?" She asked suspiciously.

"N-Nothing..."

Natsu joined in as he began to sit on the sofa, catching Erza's attention.

"Where are you sleeping?" The scarlet knight asked curiously.

"Here..." Natsu pointed the sofa.

"Eh?"

"Well, I can't sleep well on the hammock because it feels uncomfortable. So I'll sleep here instead. Plus, I don't want to bother you on your sleep."

Erza was silent as she watched the fire dragonslayer motioned over the blanket from the hammock toward the sofa and took some small pillows for his head to sleep. Then something came back from her mind which she wished that it never resurfaced.

 _*Bad Erza* = This is your chance. Attack him on his slee-_

She slapped her cheeks to remove the unwanted thought shown before her mind before lying down to her mattress. Natsu once again, sweatdropped at the redhead as he saw her slap herself for the second time.

 _'Something's wrong with this woman...'_ He blankly spoke.

After arranging their beds, Natsu sat on the sofa, looking at the her.

"Do you want the lights out?

She didn't speak but gave a light nod which Natsu took as a yes to his question. He stood up from his sofa and proceeded over the lights and turned it off, darkening the room. Erza faced herself sideways as she heard the footsteps of the dragonslayer making his way back to his sofa and laid down on it and began to doze off to sleep.

Erza then soon slowly stirred from her position and began to look at the sofa where the dragonslayer was sleeping. The moonlight illuminated from the window, making her to be able to see the pinkette from the sofa. Then suddenly, a cold feeling crept over to her spine, giving her the shivers. That's strange, even though she was covered in her own blanket, she felt a bone-chilling feeling creeping to her for the second time. She bit her lip at her situation as she gazed at Natsu in wonder. Even though they were just a feet away, she felt it like they're were miles apart.

"N-Natsu..." She tried to speak, not knowing whether if he's still awake or not.

"C-Can you sleep next to me?" She spoke in a distressful tone while keeping a blushing face due to such an embarrassing question.

...

...

...

There was no response but suddenly she saw him slowly getting up from his sofa and slowly fell down to her mattress beside her.

"Thank you..." She muttered.

"You're cold..." He mumbled silently as he felt her body. He proceeded to hug her and wrapped his arms around her before slightly raising his temperature to release off heat from his body that warmed the shivering scarlet mage.

"...Is this okay?"

"Uuuun, thank you Natsu..." She quietly muttered as she felt her body back to normal but with a little warm embrace from the fire dragonslayer.

She happily dug her head towards Natsu's chest which she found it warm and comfortable as her drowsiness began to overwhelm her senses and sleep peacefully in his arms. Natsu also smiled in content as he felt himself dozing off to sleep. The two mages finally slept as the moonlight continued to shine its way throughout the window. The night continued as night sky slowly rotates towards the new daylight and for the first time, Erza felt oddly tranquil from the warm embrace of her dragonslayer.

* * *

 **A/N: Bwuah! There you have it guys. They slept in peace. But of course, the arc isn't over yet for our favorite scarlet knight as she will still make her appearance on the next chapter.**

 **So rejoice NaZa fans... We're still not yet done.. There's more moments to share with our lovable dragonslayer and our scarlet knight in the next chapter. Look forward to it :)**

 **Still don't know about the chapter since this is also my first time taking on NaZa moments on this story and to be honest, I quite enjoyed creating one. If I had the time, I could make some one-shots regarding NaMi and NaZa in the future too. :)**

 **So what do you think guys? Did you like the chapter so far? Leave a fav. or even follow the story to keep yourselves updated. And of course, your thoughts on the chapter, leave a review guys. It's common courtesy and it serves as a motivation for me to write more :)**

 **And so we're off to Chapter 12. See ya guys next time. :)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ...**


	12. Armored Love

**A/N: You guys! wiErD here. We're still on Erza's arc. After this would be another girl to take on Natsu in his love battle.**

 **Again, sorry for the early updates. I just wanted to make sure to post as many chapters in this story before the end of the month because I would be starting my class afterwards and you all know what happens when that happens, updates would become infrequent since I will be quite gone most of the time, reading and doing things.**

 **Anyway, it's still far away so don't worry. I will try my best to post as many chapters as I can.. I can still do in weekends though in those times :)**

 **And now, we're back with Natsu and Erza who peacefully slept in peace in the former's house. Well it doesn't end there yet. xD So this chapter will play it through. A lot of humors and fluffiness between two teammates :)**

 **NaZa Time!**

 **Here guys. Have fun and Happy Reading. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I would never own Fairy Tail and its characters for the umpteenth time... And I own only my OCs.**

 **Hiro Mashima owns them. Not me :P**

* * *

 **\- Armored Love -**

Dawn had started as the sun appeared over the horizon, giving off its first light to the dark world. Clouds of different formations were revealed to the sky by the radiant bright light of the warm sun. The waters reflected some of the lights from its rippling waves as the light eat away the darkness and the day have started once again. Dew began to disappear from the mountains as the warm light replaced the chilling cold air of the previous night.

It's a start of another great day.

Erza slightly stirred from her sleep as she felt her body on an uncomfortable position. For some reason, she can't freely move due to something restricting her to do so. The sunlight penetrated through the window as its flickering rays of light shone through her still-closed eyes. Eventually, her sleepiness was beginning to wane as she slowly opened her eyes from the blinding light penetrating through it.

She placed her hand before her to block the light and let her eyes adjust to the surroundings around her.

It only took her a few moments before widening her eyes in surprise.

She was currently sleeping with Natsu. No, more importantly, she had herself in the warm embrace of the dragonslayer who was sleeping innocently in his sleep. And in an instant, her face boiled up to the highest as her cheeks easily turned into a crimson shade of red, compared little to that of her scarlet hair. She was so flustered and embarrassed to the fact that she'd actually slept with a guy. Well, she did sleep with Natsu and Gray on some occasions but this was different.

Right now, she was having trouble sleeping with the pinkette in a calm way. After what happened last night, her mind was literally left into a smoking wreck as her thoughts last night overdid her mind and was almost on the verge of losing to her bad side.

No, she must not remember that and no, she must not think of any lewd thoughts with him, and absolutely no, she must take advantage of him during his sleep. . . .

...

...

...

 _'GET OUT OF MY HEAD! ! !'_

She screamed inwardly out of frustration of her bad side, coming back to her. Those smut novels she's been reading for the past few days probably had it refueling itself to the maximum point while the other one dwindled with every passing day. It's no wonder why it didn't show up to stop her bad side.

Calming her body and mind altogether at her current thoughts, she immediately took notice of the fire dragonslayer sleeping peacefully in his sleep. The innocent face, he was wearing was enough to blush her once again without any thoughts threatening to bug her.

His closeness to her made her heart beating loudly in an instant. She could also see the closeness of his lips from her since Natsu had her under his tight embrace. And at that moment, she felt a strong temptation to urge herself towards that unguarded lips. There was no bad thoughts that is giving her a push. She just acted on her own accord as she slowly leaned on him for kiss.

She bit her lip at her actions. She just can't stop herself right now. It's like she given up on her inner desires. Her heart continues to pound wildly inside her chest and she couldn't hide her already blushing face. Their lips were just about mere inches away and Erza hesitated.

 _'Is it alright with this?'_ She thought out in disbelief as she battled out her thoughts to her actions. This is literally attacking him on his sleep.

And in an instant, Erza stopped and leaned away from his lips as she looked at him in wonder.

 _'No... This isn't right. If I'm going to do my best for him, I'll have to do it with him noticing it.'_ She deeply smiled at her resolve as she simply blushed and once again dug her head into his chest like a loyal puppy to his master.

That's right. If Natsu was working hard to surpass her, she'll have to work hard for his attention. Like what he really does in those times was completely gained from his honesty and perseverance. So now, she will have to do the same thing for him to notice her the right way. It doesn't matter if Mira does on her own way, she'll just have to give her all to win him for sure.

Deep inside her inner thoughts, a smug grin formed into the good side of hers against the bad side.

Natsu noticed a movement of the scarlet knight as his eyes slowly opened to the new light and tried to adjust his surroundings. His eyes soon followed down to his chest seeing the peaceful scarlet happily enjoying the warmth of his body.

"E-Erza... Good morning..." He mumbled, seeing his drowsiness still haven't disappeared completely. After hearing his words of greeting, Erza slowly lifted her head from his chest and smiled.

"Morning Natsu..."

He let go of his hold on her to which the scarlet female slightly regretted. She still wanted more of his warm embrace and that alone had signified her selfishness on her part. He sat up straight as he gave a yawn and a stretch at the new day. His hair is as spiky as usual even in their sleep as it did not made any messy locks unlike the scarlet knight who had her hair down in most times but easily suffered some unnecessary stranded hair locks sprouting on random places of her hair.

And to be frank, he thinks it's very funny yet cute on her image though he had to shut himself up for saying that if he wants to live awhile longer.

"How's you sleep Erza?" He asked at the lying scarlet beside him who still haven't got up from her mattress and sit up straight like him.

"It's pretty good and peaceful... ... ...because you held on to me..." The last part of her sentence was muffled that made Natsu tilt his head in confusion.

"Well that's good... I was starting to worry that you felt uncomfortable because I was sleeping next to you..." He sheepishly replied, whilst scratching the back of his head.

"No, I really don't mind you sleeping with me... Remember the times we've slept t-together..." She stuttered and blushed at the same time after remembering the times she had accepted sleeping with him without any shame in the past. But again, she feels nervous everytime she was around him and she knew that she can no longer invite herself careless to sleep with him from now on. Not because of her nervousness of being around him or her heart beating fast everytime he looks at her but because of the unwanted thoughts threatening to corrupt her when she was caught in a daze.

And last night was just a prelude. She was glad that she was able to suppress her lewd thoughts last night and slept peacefully without any trouble coming from it.

Meanwhile, Natsu slightly blushed at her statement. For some reason, he finds her answer quite embarrassing since it was really inappropriate to say it at times like this.

Sure, he was dense but he was starting to notice simple things that he should really be careful with since he had some sort of a godly bad luck when it comes to girls. He doesn't know why but everytime he comes near a girl, misunderstandings arise and that led him to be beaten half to death by Erza or even by Sara and Wendy.

He had to rethink back, though it's unusual for him to do it since he was an idiot to think things carefully.

How did Wendy again got mixed up in this? The most innocent girl he'd ever met was actually among those girls getting so worked up whenever he tries something that will make them upset. Heck, even Sara was beginning to become much like them also. She's just as peaceful as Wendy since they have same elements which kinda makes them sisters or something. And their recent behaviors towards him crushed his perspective of them.

He took a deep sigh from his thoughts as he knew he couldn't satisfy his questions in his own answers only.

 _'...Tch, girls are so hard to understand.'_ He thought out in disbelief as he shook his head and close his eyes to ponder.

Ironically, he's the one being completely so hard to understand what's happening around him since he doesn't notice everything that goes around even the most obvious things.

"Natsu..." The fire dragonslayer suddenly snapped back from his thoughts as he looked back at the scarlet knight, looking slightly worried.

"Y-Yes. What is it?"

"Is something wrong?"

"N-Nothing. Just thinking about something."

Erza tilted her head in confusion but she easily shoved it away as she finds the sun at the window already shining bright in the morning.

"We better get ourselves ready..."

"R-Right..." Natsu stuttered as he started to notice something strange on the scarlet knight.

She was not acting to her usual self. Her voice was devoid of any authority or any strictly tone in it. Instead, her voice was something like that of a shy and cute girl, which is something he couldn't describe more from it. Her actions are different from that of her strong figure as she sounded very much open towards him and even listens to him carefully. Simply put, she was acting the very opposite of her usual behavior and attitude.

Now he's confused. What could've made this scarlet knight change so much in just one day? One moment he finds her quite stern and scary but now, she was really different. For the first time in his life, he finally witnessed her other side, which greatly shocks him.

Despite the shock, Natsu could only form up a small smile creeping into his lips as he finally noticed it.

"Erza..."

"Yes?" The scarlet knight sat up straight as she looked at him.

"You've changed you know that..." He smiled, getting Erza to blush at the statement.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Well, how to say it... You're more open and less scary before..."

"Do you hate it?" She sounded slightly sad.

"Well no. Actually, I liked it. I like you more than ever.." He went back to her as he put up his very own toothy grin at the scarlet knight.

Meanwhile, Erza felt she needed to replay that thought over and over again. Did he just say, he like her more than ever? Her cheeks suddenly went up in instantaneously high temperatures that blew off some steam over her head as her face suddenly shaded itself with a tinge of red color.

"W-W-What are you s-saying?" She stuttered as she frantically flailed her arms in denial of the words spoken out to her.

"What? I think you're more pretty and quite beautiful right now than before. Am I wrong?" He asked bluntly, preventing her flustered face to calm down any further at the new set of compliments laid upon her. Her mind was starting to blow up due to embarrassment as she could only shook her head down to prevent him from seeing her flustered face.

"L-L-Let's just get ourselves c-changed..." She pouted as she kept her head down with her voice utterly cute and shy in front of the dragonslayer.

Natsu noticed that they've been up for too long and began to stand up from his knees as he gaze over the window and saw the morning before him.

"Yeah.. I think we should also hurry to the guild. Everyone's waiting..." He spoke.

Erza took a good look on the dragonslayer as she slowly glanced to him before remembering something.

"Oh, are you really okay standing right now? How's your injuries?" She asked worriedly.

"It's okay now. I didn't feel any pain anymore. I feel more alive because I got some good night sleep..." He grinned proudly as he pumped his fist in the air. But Erza wanted to make sure.

"It might come back later. Let me hel-" She tried to stand up but the blanket twisted itself on her foot as it caused her to lose her balance and fall down back to the mattress once again.

"Erza! Watch out!" Natsu caught her hand but the force of her fall staggered his footing and fell into the same direction where the scarlet knight had fell. The mattress made a soft and floppy sound as the two fell. The two pillows together with the scarlet knight's heart pillow were scattered upon their descent.

What happened next greatly placed the two mages on the state of trance as Erza found Natsu on top of her, looking at his black, onyx eyes solely. The fire dragonslayer stared wide at Erza's brown eyes in thought as he had himself in all-fours against the scarlet knight. For some reason, the two couldn't move away from their current positions as they're left to gaze upon each other's faces. Unaware for them, their cheeks are starting form up in tinges of pink, clearly showing their embarrassed faces.

"E-Erza. . . . . ."

"Natsu. . . . . ."

Both names trailed off in thought as the two continued their long-time gaze at each other. They didn't know why but they just felt the need to utter their name for themselves. It was then Erza tried to lean on towards Natsu slowly for a kiss. The fire dragonslayer stood there unfazed at what she was going to do. Instead, he stood there waiting for her to do her thing. Even though he finds it unusual for him, he felt powerless to avoid it.

Their lips are closing inch by inch as the the scarlet knight was about to touch hers to him until an unexpected visitor suddenly appeared by the door, unaware of the situation inside the house.

The door fiercely opened, leaving off a banging sound that could easily crack the walls beside it as Happy came rushing in with his wings sprouted on his back. He had just returned home from the Strauss home since he was asleep last night and didn't wake up soon after Natsu. In the end, he had to sleep with Mirajane and Lisanna who were yanking his paws on both sides, deciding who should be the one cuddling him in their sleep.

Well it resulted him sleeping with two beautiful Strauss siblings at the same time. He didn't mind all of it though he wished he could just swapped with Natsu since he's more suited into that kind of thing. Not that he thinks him as perverted or anything. It's just felt strange for an Exceed such as himself to be sleeping next to a girl other than his pseudo-father.

Lucky son of an Exceed.

"Natsu! ! ! I'm glad you're back.. Please cook me some-" The blue Exceed stopped on his tracks as he gawked at the shocking sight before him. His jaws dropped to the ground hard as he saw Natsu kneeling on all-fours at Erza who was lying on the mattress. Something he would've seen on those romantic novels from Lucy and Levy.

Natsu and Erza also turned their heads towards the Exceed who was floating there utterly shocked from the look of his face. Same thing could be applied to them as they were caught at the wrong time.

"H-Happy?!" Natsu stuttered as he saw his partner right before them. But there was one more person who is stuttering in disbelief and embarrassment at the arrival of the blue Exceed.

". . . . . . . . H-H-HAPPY. . . . . . . ." Erza stuttered greatly.

"I-I... U-Uhh..." The blue Exceed was sweating too much due to his nervousness. After all, seeing his partner and the scarlet knight on the verge of smooching greatly baffled his mind and created multiple reasons that could depict the situation. No, there's something more worse than that and he knew he will probably die if he stayed here for a while longer.

There's only one thing he could do in this kind situation before him.

"S-Sorry for bothering you two. Take your time! ! !" Happy suddenly flew back to the door as he grabbed the door knob and shut the door hard and began to fly away from the house.

It was then, Erza's eyes suddenly flared up tremendously and her body glowed in her respective magic which prompted Natsu to move aside. And in an instant, she went outside and changed into her Heaven Wheel's Armor, glaring over the Exceed who was trying to flee from the scene. In one mighty thrust against the ground, she went off in the air to chase the Exceed.

 **"H - A - P - P - Y ! ! !"**

Erza spoke in an intimidating voice while keeping her flustered face as she inched herself towards the Exceed who was crying comically in desperation to get away from the scary knight. Even in his Max Speed, she was still closing over to him. Afraid of what might happen to him, he shouted in distress.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! ERZA'S GONNA KILL ME!"

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later... Near a street leading towards Fairy Tail...**_

Natsu walked together with Erza and Happy, with the latter still comically sobbing without making any sounds of crying as he was being carried around the fire dragonslayer's arms. His strange, egg-like watery eyes can be seen by the two, who only sweatdropped at the scared Exceed. Natsu could not do anything but to pat his head gingerly to help him calm down.

"How long are gonna keep crying? Erza already forgave you..." Natsu looked at his crying Exceed in a deadpan look.

"I-I thought she's gonna kill me after what I saw between you two..." He whimpered.

The scarlet knight in question, blushed as she frantically turned back and spoke to the Exceed.

"I-I-It was a misunderstanding... We're not doing anything okay?"

Happy slightly twitched but he knew she was just telling the truth though he still can't calm down after their little chase down at the forest. Oh, how he could still remember those fresh memories of Erza's scary face behind his tail as they chased around the forest. He knew she was trying to catch him and keep his mouth shut but the thought of her always beating Natsu in every embarrassing situation could probably applied to him as well if he was at the same incident like his unfortunate dragonslayer.

Not to mention, her prominent rage was one to be reckoned with, when someone messed her cake in the process. Even Natsu wasn't safe in that dilemma as he accidentally tripped one of her cakes in their fight with Gray one time. It was also his first time taking any sympathy for his dragonslayer.

Basically, she was his most terrifying nightmare and having himself mixed in it is worse than losing a day's meal without any fish.

Eventually, his tears were long gone as he was able to calm down since he wasn't attacked physically by the redhead. It also came to him as a surprise that the scarlet knight didn't really resorted to violence to the unfortunate event earlier. Normally, she would randomly attack everyone who managed to witness her embarrassed side but now, she simply cleared his assumption and even apologized.

"S-So what were you two really doing back there?" He tried to ask.

"It was really nothing really we were just about to get up but you came unexpectedly.." Natsu reasoned.

"Then how are two able to come up with that kind of position?"

"We fell..." Natsu spoke.

"That's quite a strange yet majestic fall you two had back there." The Exceed pondered in thought.

"I wonder about that..." Natsu seems to agree back then, completely unaware of the little glances made by the scarlet knight.

Erza was still blushing over their 'little' accident earlier. She traced her thoughts back, contemplating about their actions back at the house. It was her second time, trying to kiss him. She didn't know why but she knew that Natsu never showed signs of refusal about her actions back then. He didn't even bother to use anything to stop her from doing what she was about to do earlier.

Did he want her to continue the kiss?

Her mind was currently boggled by the unnecessary thoughts, continuously flowing out from one after another, making her hard to think straight. Her face has been shaded in crimson red for quite some time now. She kept glancing to the side as the two of them continue to walk towards the guild with Happy in tow.

"Are you alright Erza?" Natsu spoke out in a worried manner as he saw her face heating up from her thoughts.

"I-I'm alright. Don't worry yourself over me." She spoke shyly, soundly different from her strong figure from the last few days.

"Are you sure? You look like you have a fever..." He examined her carefully as he reached his hand over to her forehead.

Erza was surprised at his actions as she felt heart skip a beat after her forehead gently touched his warm hand.

"Yup, you're really heating up... You should take some rest for now."

"It's nothing Natsu. I can still take care of myself-" She was cut off as Natsu interrupted her.

"Don't be stupid. What if you really have a fever? You've taken care of me back at my house last night. At least let me help you in return, I'd be pretty upset to myself if you fainted on the spot." He spoke out worriedly as his eyes fixed itself at the surprised redhead who looked back at him in wonder.

This is one of his traits when it comes to the matter of his friends. He deeply cares so much about them that he will do anything to make them happy. Although in her case, he did save her from her past and even saved her life. She remembered her time back at the Tower of Heaven where she was on the verge of fusing with the tower, she saw a vision of her dying on the aftermath of it. She saw how Natsu adamantly refused her death even though it was futile to deny it. He's the only one who refused to accept all of it. He always believed that she was still alive.

She cried back at that time as she felt regret of doing such an idiotic thing. She never felt so lonely back at that time and it struck her of how much she wanted to be beside him. How she wanted to feel what is it like to feel his warmth back then.

And then, a miracle happened. Natsu, the man whom she put her whole faith into, managed to do the impossible. For him to be able to retrieve her back with all his strength alone in a such impossible way, she noticed how he selfishly wanted to bring her back to the world. He would not accept her death just like that.

And for the first time in her life, she never felt so secure on his embrace. It was then she made a vow on her life.

She will not let him suffer anymore or cry just like that time when he rescued her from the tower. She would make sure to make him enjoy happiness together with her. They will share each other's pain and move on forward to the future ahead of them.

Erza smiled warmly towards the dragonslayer as she noticed his concerns. She finally knew what she needed to do.

"You don't need to worry about me. In fact, I'm quite happy because you were here with me..." She spoke happily as Natsu slightly blushed at her statement.

"I-Is that so?" He stuttered at her sudden change of attitude towards him. She was just acting all shy back then, but now she sounded more strange than her usual behavior. The oddness of her current actions towards him was not something he could not describe so easily. It's like she was trying to express something for him though he doesn't know what it is.

He had to set aside his thoughts about her at the moment as he knew that he couldn't know more than just observation.

Life is just so strange for him in these past couple of days. Everyone is changing in many different ways.

They continued to walk down the road towards their guild as people began to flock the streets of Magnolia to start their everyday life. It's like a usual routine for the normal people of the town since they are all simply carrying on to work hard for their lives. Everyone around them bid the two a couple of morning greetings since Erza was popular in town for such a long time. She simply passed a wave to the bystanders as they continued on their way.

"I never thought you were so popular..." Natsu suddenly talked as he recently found out how she was well-known around Magnolia.

"Really? It's probably just because I almost knew everyone around here including the guild..." She replied.

"Oh, is that so? Well, I guess that's expected since you were so good in making people happy."

"It's nothing really... I think that also applies the same for you too."

"Huh?"

"You make people happy and satisfied because of what you do for them although you just don't notice it." She solemnly spoke.

"Yeah, it's because he's an idiot to notice even the slightest hints..." Happy joined in the conversation.

"Hey!" Natsu spoke out in an irritated tone. Even Happy, his trusty Exceed was insulting him.

"What? It's true right? You still have your promise with Mirai-chan..." Happy beamed happily which made Natsu to tilt his head in confusion.

"Who's that?" He tried to ask the familiar name but he only received a bop to the head from the Exceed for not remembering.

"Stupid! (Baka!) She's the girl you're currently engaged with. You're his fiance remember?" Happy clarified as the fire dragonslayer jumbled his memories of what he said to him. Eventually, he remembered it all as he pondered at the girl in question.

"Oh Raven's sister!" He realized it as he put up a surprised expression over the topic at hand.

"See? How could you easily forget about it? Hikari-chan will not like it if you turn back your promise."

"Sorry about that. Well, we've been away from each other for some quite time now. I wonder how they're back there?" He looked up to the sky in wonder of his new friends back at the village. He really looked forward in meeting the two Selverion siblings again when they go on a trip back to their village.

Unknown to the two, Erza was inwardly trying to suppress her growing irritation at the mentioned topic. She really doesn't like that specific topic that always brings up an unwanted promise to Natsu. He was utterly deceived by that Selverion mother and he innocently accepted it without considering a second thought about it. This is just one of her failures in keeping Natsu from being deceived by other people.

The boy has a mind of a pure being that is easily misled by some false rumors. And Hikari manage to dug himself a promise for his marriage in the future because of that.

Good thing, they didn't spoke it out to the guild immediately otherwise it would be a bloodbath of broken minds of her guild members since such a thing was seemingly impossible to predict even by normal standards.

If one might say that this is the work of a god, then she would've agreed to it.

It didn't take long as they were at the guild doors. They stopped for a brief moment before looking back to each other and smiled.

"Let's head inside." Erza spoke.

"Aye!" Natsu and Happy spoke unison.

But before they could open the door, Natsu suddenly remembered something, concerning his scarlet-haired friend beside him.

"By the way Erza, what time do you think you'll be free later?" The fire dragonslayer asked, getting the scarlet knight to tilt her head in confusion at the sudden question.

"Why would ask about it?"

"Well, I was thinking about what time we'll be going out buying you some cakes..." He replied with a toothy grin present on his face.

"Eh?" Came out a dumbfounded answer.

"Didn't you remember my promise with you back at Raven's village? That I'll be accompanying you on buying some cakes, plus it's my treat so don't worry about how many you want. As long as you're happy with it, then I'm happy too." He smiled.

Meanwhile, Erza suddenly blushed at him. She knew that they made a promise back then but the way he put it was way too romantic and unusual for him. She frantically flailed her arms in embarrassment as she couldn't help herself at the situation.

"W-W-What are you doing?. . . . . . .Saying such sweet words at this time..." She pouted her lips as she silently whispered her last part, getting her face to match her hair color once again.

"Hmm?" Natsu uttered confusingly at her reply.

"W-Well maybe... this afternoon... I might be free."

Natsu's face brightened as he grinned at the shy scarlet knight.

"Then it's settled. We'll meet by the fountain alright?"

"O-Okay..."

Happy kept silent about their plans since he doesn't want to cause any trouble especially when it is Erza. He doesn't want to die yet and he might as well shut up about the whole thing earlier if he wants to have his lives kept altogether. He still have many things to do in this world before dying. He still wanted to give more fish to Charle while he still have time.

With the two finally decided on their plans for today, they proceeded to open the guild doors as it made a very loud creaking sound upon opening it. They came inside only to see the guild as usual as ever. Tables and chairs are toppled over from their current positions, guild members are battling each other to the extent of their magic and master is usually drunk as ever without any care of what is transpiring before him. Those were the order of the day in Fairy Tail.

The three sweatdropped at the sight before them, even to Natsu despite being a battle-loving maniac inside the guild.

Faster than any eye could see, a flying mug was sent heading towards the three in blinding speeds. No one knew who threw it but it was enough for the whole guild to stop their previous ventures as it made a loud sound and inevitably, hit the scarlet knight straight to the face, thereby falling to the ground in the process.

Natsu and Happy felt their jaws drop and their eyes widen like big white saucers as they saw their scarlet knight down to the ground.

 _'HOLY FUCKING SHIT! ! ! WE'RE SO ROYALLY SCREWED! ! !'_

The guild members of course, paled at the sight before them as if their blood suddenly seeped out from their bodies due to extreme fright and horror. This was the most terrible mistake they've have done in their whole lives. It's probably more grave than spilling her strawberry cake multiple times. A collective shiver of dread instantly shot up throughout their bodies as the downed scarlet slowly stood up from the ground, holding the mug that struck on her face in her hands.

Her face was shadowed by her bangs as everyone couldn't predict her expression at the moment but they knew that even after being hit by a mug out of nowhere was something that they would be also pissed off. The scarlet knight was no exception, and they knew the expression behind those shadowed face of hers greatly manifest into one thing, anger.

"Who threw that?" She suddenly spoke in a stolid voice, getting the whole guild to point accusing fingers at each other. Natsu twitched his brow in irritation as some fingers are pointed at him accusingly.

"Oi! I only just came here bastards!"

It was then that the whole guild was forced to take drastic actions. It's time use one of their fail-safes for the guild's survival. Everyone nodded their heads together at the decisive plan.

 _'We're doing, Operation: Elfman Takes all the Blame.'_

Everyone took a step back away from the scene and both pointed all their fingers towards Elfman who was completely unaware of what just happened.

"IT WAS HIM. HE DID IT! ! !" They all spoke in unison.

"Real men never gave up their comrades and push their blame on him!"

"Well we just did. Good luck Elfman, be a man for us." Macao made a deadpan look before showing his sympathy over the buff Take Over mage by patting his shoulders.

"You fucking cowards!"

"One real man is enough for a hundred more lives at stake." Wakaba explained.

"Are you telling me that I'm the compensation?! I didn't even threw it."

Everyone nodded firmly with their heads shook and their eyes closed at the agreement.

"Don't be such a wimp and accept her divine punishment! Is that what really makes you a real man?"

"But-"

They had to stop their argument as Erza began to walk towards them, specifically to Elfman with a shadowed expression, getting them to widen their eyes in fear. The guild members all set aside on both sides, giving her a way towards the Take Over mage. She stopped momentarily in front of him who was sweating nervously out of fear of what she might do to him. She raised the mug in the air as if something was about to happen.

Then in a deadpanned expression, Erza handed the mug on his big hands as she began to speak in a blank expression.

"Be careful next time got it?" Erza spoke.

Then in an instant, the whole guild floored. No, literally they floored with a huge sweatdrop hanging over their heads. Only Erza was the only one left standing in the midst of the flabbergasted guild members. Well, it's no real surprise that they react that way. I mean, Erza just literally returned the mug and tolerated their actions before them. That alone was enough to kill the tense atmosphere between them.

"Is this for real?"

"How in the fuck did that happen?"

"W-What happened? Erza didn't blow?"

"Damn, I was expecting it."

"You're two are so dead, Macao and Wakaba!"

One member laughed in his stupor before being punched by the two mentioned mages who both wished that he'd just shut up all about it. Unfortunately, his words didn't go unheard by the Take Over mage as he went over behind the two mages with an intimidating look. Macao and Wakaba were dead at the start though Erza's sudden change of tolerance simply accelerated their doom as they heard a bone-cracking sound of Elfman's knuckles behind them.

"You two were saying?"

The two rivals shakily glanced around the buff mage as they both have shivers crawling up to their spine.

"H-Hey Elfman..."

"REAL MEN LECTURE OTHERS WITH THEIR FISTS!" He shouted in anger as he delivered an overwhelming uppercut straight to their jaws and sent them flying high above the guild roof and into the outside, leaving two human-shaped holes above it.

"Why us only?!" The voices of the two mages simply faded almost instantly as they're were sent to who-knows-where.

Erza simply sighed as the guild came back into their usual routines and simply walked towards the bar counter and sat unto one of its seats before ordering a cup of water to sate her thirst.

"That was a bit surprising on my part Erza..." A familiar voice sounded through the bar counter as Erza's eyes slightly twitched in irritation at the appearance of her now reformed rival, Mirajane.

"What surprise?"

"Well, you're more tolerable on the guild's actions and even spared my little brother..." Mirajane spoke out in a cute voice as she handed the scarlet knight a glass of water. Even what happened yesterday, they seemed to be on good terms, temporarily.

"I don't see any surprise in that. Is it bad for one's personality to change just a little?" She took the glass and began to swallow the water slowly.

"Not that I think of it as a bad one. Though, I take it that it involved something with Natsu am I right?" She smirked at the thought. The scarlet knight almost choked on her drink as she tried to keep up a steady composure in front of the devious barmaid.

"W-What are you saying? N-Natsu doesn't have anything to do with my part." She stuttered but the demon barmaid knew better as she could clearly see her jolted actions when mentioning the pinkette.

"Hoh, I think there's something more than you're telling me..."

"W-What are you talking about?"

"Well, he's not in the medical room earlier so I take it that you took him home don't you?"

"So what if I did?" She was starting to get annoyed.

"Well, you might have seduced him already... That's quite a tactic Erza-san."

"H-Hmph, I don't know what you were talking about. I just took care of him. That's all." She lied as she could remember those events that happened back at his house. Series of images played inside her mind like a theater and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed with every situation she was in that time including her thoughts. Even her memories earlier in the morning also appeared in her mind as she felt herself lost in reverie.

Meanwhile, Mirajane noticed her rival, seemingly pulled back into one of her usual day-dreaming thoughts as she found her drooling in her seat. As much as she wanted to get information between them, she doesn't want her interrupting her own delusions. She could use it as her advantage to get to Natsu while she's in that state.

She sneakily, went past by her and happily gaze over the dragonslayer who was at the table with his team as usual.

 _'Chance!'_

"Natsu!" She called out as she came over to them. Said dragonslayer turned his head over the voice and smiled upon seeing her again.

"Yo! Mira. Good to see you."

"Good to see you too Natsu. How's your injuries?" She asked.

"It's all fine now. I just needed a good rest back at my home..."

"I'm glad..." She smiled in relief as she took a seat beside him.

"Well, aren't you a bit more open Mira?" Lucy asked, seeing the barmaid talking so casually and often with their team. In the past few days, she's been taking some small breaks from her duties and would often come around their table and talk with them.

She was glad because Mira gets to do what she really wants to without any interruptions. If by her own actions, she would mean, how the barmaid would occasionally cook various kinds of food for the dragonslayer. She would always see her, carrying every bit of food on her hands to give for Natsu at the time of noon. Of course, he would gladly accept it from her but there's just one problem, Erza Scarlet.

That's right. She was informed about how Mira and Erza usually fight in their childhood years and this is her first time witnessing it for the first time ever. In the end, it all resulted into a heated argument between them concerning Natsu's well being. Whatever the reason was, she will remind herself to stay away from it. Prying too much on their own businesses spell death to her and to everyone around the guild.

"Well it's because, I just wanted to have fun with you guys." Mirajane smiled gently as the team smiled in return for her.

"Is it okay for you to be here? I mean, after what happened yesterday with Erza-san..." Wendy spoke worriedly.

"It's alright. We're really not into fighting right now because of that. We don't want to cause any trouble for Natsu.." She reasoned.

"Ah, come on. That was already yesterday. Let's just forget about it." Natsu butted in, having wanting everyone to forget the incident yesterday.

"You don't know how serious it is to heal you Natsu...We were so very worried about you." Sara bit her lip in a worried expression as she could still remember the events yesterday. How she and Wendy tried their best to lessen his injuries. To their surprise, it took the two of them to fully heal him back to his usual state but he still has some parts that are still painful even though it was healed. They all went home with a plague of worries on their faces.

Natsu knew his mistake as he looked at the wind dragonslayer with concern.

"S-Sorry... I must have worried all of you."

"But we're glad that you're okay now Natsu." Lucy slightly smiled at the dragonslayer.

"Ara, ara. Natsu sure knows how to pamper a woman's heart. I'm jealous~." Mirajane cooed as she saw the little sweet moment between Natsu and Sara with the latter blushing instantly at her comment.

"W-What are you talking about?" Sara simply looked away at the sides, trying to hide her flustered face to the dragonslayer who was again, clueless about everything.

"Fufufu..." The white-haired barmaid simply chuckled under breathe as she began to inch herself to Natsu.

"What is it Mira?" The pinkette asked upon noticing her closeness to him.

"Nothing...~" She sang as she beamed brightly towards the other girls across her.

"I don't get it... Natsu is still sweet-talking with the other girls even though he already had one..." Happy pouted as he tried to ponder at the thought. Several of the team cringed upon his little revelation that made Mirajane slightly curious.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

And at that moment, Sara, Wendy and Lucy together with Charle simply paled as Happy unknowingly revealed a short glimpse of their secret back at the village. What's more, it was actually Mirajane to be the first to notice it, thanks to him. And they knew how the demon barmaid was persistent on most things.

Just as she was about to press on further with the topic, she was interrupted when a certain scarlet mage stood behind her with her ironclad arms crossed whilst shooting her with sharp eyes that signify anger and irritation. Her aura was already imminent as it glowed out from her body with her straight hair, swaying upwards due to it.

"Mira. . . . How many times do I have to tell you not to get too close to Natsu?"

"Ara, ara. Erza-san, is it bad for me to sit beside him?"

"No, but the way you do it is unacceptable..." She pointed her finger accusingly on the barmaid who had her arms clinging to the dragonslayer secretly hidden from others.

"Hoh, and why do you care?" She stood up, wearing a calm face towards the seething scarlet.

"It is my responsibility..."

"You want to take this the hard way?" Mirajane spoke in a more assertive way as they were once again engaged into a heated staring contest between each other. Sparks of lightning came in between their faces as both sides aren't giving an inch from their intimidating glares.

The team could only sweatdrop at the two as they once again find themselves in the middle of it.

 _'And here I thought, they would never fight anymore because of what happened yesterday...'_

Both heads of the three girls on their seats shook in disappointment. Oh, they just hope that the guild doesn't come crushing down on them if this continues. This has definitely become one of those usual routines that would really happen in the next few days inside their guild. Only this time, more destruction around, more blood will be spilled and more jewels worth compensating for the damages.

Master isn't gonna like this.

* * *

 ** _A few minutes later... (At the fountain: Magnolia Plaza)_**

Erza waited patiently for the dragonslayer near the fountain. She scanned around the crowded area, looking anything for a pink-haired companion in her vicinity. Then in a few minutes, she heard a familiar voice behind her, prompting her to look around and saw Natsu running towards her with a bright and warm smile. Erza finally smiled as she stood there, finally relieved that he came.

"You're late. What took you so long?" She slightly spoke in an annoyed tone.

"Sorry, just had to get away from Mira since she's been so... clingy."

A tick mark appeared over the scarlet knight head. She really can't let her guard down whenever she's around.

"Even so, you should really watch yourself from Mira."

"Y-Yeah. Sure..."

Natsu took a brief look at the scarlet knight. She wasn't wearing any armor today, including her Heart Kruez armor. Instead, she wears a red, long sleeve dress with frilly skirt reaching down to her knees similar to that of Mirajane's dress in his last 'date'. White frills are connected to the very edge of her sleeves, some circled through her waist and a deep shaded heart shape can be see at her chest. Her scarlet hair was tied in one little and cute ribbon that forms up a ponytail as it cascaded down to her back gracefully. A pair of light red heels can be seen on the scarlet knight's feet.

"What's with the getup?" He deadpanned having to see his companion quite into clothing today.

Erza suddenly blushed as she tried to keep her face away from the dragonslayer for a moment.

"W-What? Do you think I can't act like girl once in a while?" She spoke out in an annoyed tone though without any stern in it. Meanwhile, Natsu simply gave a priceless look at the redhead.

 _'We're just going to buy you some cakes right?'_

"W-Well, it's just seemed... ... ... strange." Natsu scratched the back of his head, unable to come up an answer towards the scarlet knight.

"How strange?"

"How to say it... ... You look like... ... exactly a normal, pretty girl." Erza tried to keep herself as composed as possible before asking another question.

"W-W-What do you think of my clothes?" She muttered involuntarily but it was enough for Natsu to hear.

". . .Hmm. Cute I guess. I mean, I never really seen you wear something like this so it's kinda new for me." He shyly replied as he tried put up his reassuring smile at the scarlet knight. However for Erza, she couldn't control her emotions as they were threatening to burst out any moment because of embarrassment. There he goes again with his unexpected compliments. Really, she just couldn't handle herself alone whenever she's alone with him. Her heart was starting to beat fast and her face getting shades of red once again.

Love is so complicated.

She cleared her throat as she glanced away from the dragonslayer, trying to calm herself down.

"A-Anyway, should we get going?" Her question managed to knock off Natsu's trance from his thoughts about her and immediately walked to her.

"Y-Yeah. I guess we should get going."

"Don't forget about your promise... with me."

"I know. It's my treat right? What kind of a man am I if I let you do the expenses. Remember that I still have a mountain of jewels back at my home."

"I didn't see any jewels back at your home." She spoke curiously.

"Oh, that. Happy and I dug a huge hole behind the house and buried it there. That way no one is gonna steal it."

Erza sweatdropped. He sure have ways on how to run his life. It's a wonder how they managed to keep their house for all these years. They continued to talk more about themselves starting with Natsu then to her afterwards. They reminisced their memories back from the times they took missions together with their team. It was really a great conversation and the atmosphere between them created some sort of tranquil feeling that could be felt by the other people around them.

"Salamander and the Titania are together?"

"How I envy youth these days."

"Nice going. Salamander."

"Or you could say, R.I.P. to him."

A couple of murmurs are heard by the dragonslayer which simply annoyed him as they walked along the road. Erza noticed his expression and decided to ask.

"Something wrong Natsu?"

"It's just that these people are saying things about us. I don't like it." He shrugged in his shoulders. The scarlet knight simply smiled at him in reassurance.

"Don't worry about them. Whatever they might say about us, we just need simply move forward and enjoy the time for ourselves."

"I guess you're right. Thanks Erza." He grinned as he felt himself relaxed again in the company of the scarlet mage.

"Don't mention it..."

Then in a moment, Natsu felt something similar from where he was back then. He looked around his surroundings and something clicked into his mind.

"Come to think of it, I kinda know this part of the town." He suddenly spoke getting Erza to stop from her tracks and looked at the dragonslayer in confusion.

"You've been here?" She asked as Natsu pondered himself in thought as he tried to remember.

"I know it's something around here..." He paced back and forth as he tried to scan the structures of houses and stores around him. Finally, his eyes caught sight of a familiar store that instantly made him remember. He walked towards the store with Erza following him. He stopped momentarily as he recognized the similar store where he'd first witnessed that cakes are as delicious as his meats.

"... ...AAAAaaaaahhhhh... ..." He drawled lazily as he finally stood in front of the store where he and Mira had gone inside.

"Oh, I never thought you actually knew the cake store..."

"Wait... ... So that means-" He was cut short as Erza finished his assumption.

"Yep. This is where I order my cakes everyday."

Natsu could only sweatdrop at the familiar place in front of him. Erza motioned herself in front of Natsu as she reached out a hand to him, prompting him to hold it as she pulled him towards her and began to enter the store.

"Let's go inside Natsu.." She smiled at the dragonslayer who only kept a defeated sigh.

They went inside as the door made a clinking sound made by the bells above them. It was then, a familiar woman also emerged from the counter, seemingly bright with her attitude and greeted the customers.

"Welcome... ... Erza-chan and-" She bowed before looking up to face the familiar customers, only to have her jaw drop to the floor hard as she saw a familiar pinkette before again.

"-S-Salamander-sama?" She stuttered. Natsu simply sighed.

"I ain't gonna blow your store or anything. I just accompanied her to buy her some cakes." He recited, having himself tired of all the reactions of the store owners whenever he comes in. They react greatly at his presence since, his title was feared by people with properties not mages. However, the woman's reaction was a complete different one since she was simply shocked to see him with another girl. After all, she was with-

"A-Ah, it's nothing. B-But I thought you already have Mi-" The woman stopped halfway as she didn't want to involve herself in such trivial matters. That's right, it's their business and she didn't want to pry into it any further.

"Good afternoon Rose. How're you doing?" Erza smiled at the woman who simply bowed before the Titania.

"I-I'm doing fine. W-What brings you here Erza-chan?" The woman called Rose spoke shyly as she held her plate in arms.

"We're eating here. Is there any vacant seats here?"

"Oh yes, there is one over the corner near the window. P-Please follow after me." Rose motioned herself as she led the two into a two table seat near the window. Natsu and Erza followed and sat in opposite sides as they awaited Rose to hand out their menus.

"Vanilla cake as usual..." Natsu quickly finished his choice and handed the menu back at Rose, shocking the redhead.

"I didn't know you like pastries too." She remarked.

"Well, I happen to like them when M-" Suddenly, he had the urge halfway. Remembering the store also let him remember their little secret with Mira. They promised not to tell it to everyone or suffer the consequences. He felt a shiver crawl up in his spine about what would the demon barmaid would do if he slip his tongue together with their secret.

"Something wrong?"

"N-Nothing just liked it a few years back. Y-Yeah."

"I see. I'm glad."

The two waited their orders at their table as Natsu was staring intently at Erza to which she finds somehow quite uneasy for her. It was then she tried to ask his reasons of doing so.

"W-Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Nothing, just looking of how much you've changed Erza."

"Is it really that bothersome for me to change just a little bit?" She asked worriedly.

"Well, I guess so but I don't mind either way. You just became like a proper girl. Is there something that made you change like that?" He asked curiously as his black onyx eyes is fixed on her intently. Again, she blushed at his comment.

"N-Nothing in particular... ..." She pouted as she lowered her head in embarrassment. She couldn't tell him yet, for she doesn't have the courage to do so since this was her first time, witnessing this kind of feeling.

"Okay then... ... ...Man, the girl's sure taking her time. Lemme, eat already!" He whined from his seat as he could feel his tummy rumble from hunger. His head was rested on the table as he finds himself quite bored at the waiting.

"Be patient Natsu alright?" She smiled as reached out her hand towards him and stroked his pink locks that made the pinkette blushed at the action. She's just like Mira at that time. They really knew on how to caress him whenever they got the chance though Erza is more patient and conservative than Mira.

It didn't take them any longer to wait as Rose finally came back with two cakes in hand, one vanilla and one strawberry cake.

"Here you go...Erza-chan, Salamander-sama."

"Natsu is fine. I hate formalities." Rose simply bowed down in embarrassment.

"Y-Yes. N-Natsu-sama."

"Good to meet you. Hope we get along." He smiled to which Rose smiled in return before going back to the counter.

"Let's get eating then." He then turned his attention back to the scarlet knight who nodded in response as they began to dig unto their respective cakes. Erza sliced her cake with good manners similar that of Mirajane while Natsu still have trouble in using utensils in slicing his cake. Well at least, he doesn't need to devour half of it like before. The scarlet knight manages to notice his eating habits quite different from before as he was able to utilize the utensils in a standard way.

"I didn't know you were good at using those things."

"So rude. I know how to use them alright." Natsu scoffed at the insult.

"S-Sorry. It's just my first time seeing it."

"Well, you're watching it now." He dug his fork into the sliced cake and put it in his mouth not before leaving a piece of crumbs stuck from the side of his mouth. Erza somehow noticed this.

"Natsu you have something on your mouth..."

"Really?" He tried checking it but he just couldn't seem to get it off. Erza proceeded to help with a table cloth in hand to wipe it off from it.

"Wait Natsu, let me." She spoke as she placed the table cloth near his mouth as she wiped it off in an instant. Natsu was slightly disturbed by it and couldn't help but blush at her gentle actions towards him. The atmosphere between them somehow turned into a sweet one as the dragonslayer was left staring in a daze at the scarlet knight.

But of course, their sweet time wasn't ignored by the all-time single customers who were also the ones back at Mira's date. Their eyes flaring up more than ever after seeing the pile of shit of a dragonslayer before them again, showing off his 'self-described' flirting skills with the girls as if he was really shoving it to their face again. Their glares are more vicious as ever and some of them had already broken a few glasses with their bare hands at the sight.

 _'That fucking womanizer! What is he doing here again!?'_

 _'Utterly disgusting. Cheating on her girl on the second day. Shame, shame.'_

 _'At least, give me his previous white-haired bombshell. At least, I'm not lonely anymore.'_

Natsu couldn't really help it after all. The same creepy vibe, the customers were giving him aren't helping him at the moment. He doesn't want to ruin their good conversation with each other. It was then, he noticed the scarlet knight fidgeted from her seat as if she was expecting something from him. Natsu doesn't know about it but something clicked on his mind as he remembered back her time with Mira when they're going out together.

He carefully took the fork from her plate sliced the strawberry cake into small slices and forked it before presenting it her mouth. Erza slightly widen her eyes from his sudden actions.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?"

"Come on, stop talking and start eating. Here, Aaah~" Natsu spoke as he slightly sang on his last part to feed the flustered redhead. Erza however, couldn't deny the offer so she just closed her eyes and fixed her bangs as she went in for the cake.

"Aaah~" She spoke as the cake went inside her mouth and began to chew it as her eyes sparkled in delight of her favorite cake.

"H-Heaven..." She complimented as she looked back at her strawberry cake.

"R-Rigghhhtt..." He drawled lazily before putting down the fork back to her plate and returned to his cake.

Meanwhile, she looked back at Natsu who was casually eating his cake without any showing signs of energy in it.

It was then, her happiness immediately shot down as she felt something empty somewhere in her heart.

She couldn't explain but the thought of Natsu simply inviting her on a whim wasn't really an achievement on her part. She slowly shook her head, looking down at her lap before feeling a bit crestfallen afterwards. She was beginning to think that he probably came along because of her promise back at the village. She bit her lip in frustration as she felt her heart suddenly aching all of a sudden. Natsu was able to notice it.

"Erza?" He asked worriedly, getting the scarlet knight to get her attention back at the dragonslayer.

"O-Oh yes. What is it?" She smiled bitterly and Natsu saw it all through.

"Something's wrong with you?" He firmly spoke.

"N-Nothing's wrong alright? Anyway, we can fulfill the promise if you buy me cakes right?"

"Yeah? What of it?"

"You can just reserve me fifty of them at the counter. I'll get them later." She suddenly stood up, giving the pinkette a slightly surprise expression.

 _'Wow! 50 of them? Just how much you obsess yourself about cakes-WAIT! THAT IS NOT THE TIME TO THINKING LIKE THAT! ! !'_

"Where are you going?" He asked seriously.

"Back at the guild..."

"Then I'll come alon-"

"Please, enjoy your time here. Thank you for accompanying me Natsu. I'd rather be alone." Before the fire dragonslayer could reply back, Erza stormed off the store in a fast pace, leaving him alone at the store. Her strawberry cake was left unfinished with him. Natsu definitely knew that something's wrong with her. But what is the problem, he did came along to fulfill his promise right? Why would she suddenly turn it down halfway?

Unaware for him, a couple of heads were putting up sympathy over the tragic couple they had just witness. Great, the singles' corner. And for the first time, they were able to speak freely, rather than in their thoughts.

"That was deep indeed."

"Right in the feels."

"Ah, it's just feels so good to be single don't ya think?"

"CUT IT OUT YOU BASTARDS! ! !"

* * *

 _ **(A few hours later...) In the midst of the afternoon.**_

Erza kept sprinting with her current dress without looking back. She just ran, without knowing where she is. It doesn't matter where she goes. All she wanted, is to go somewhere alone to cool her head. Her heart was aching too much. It's more painful than before, maybe it's because she suddenly bolted outside and left the dragonslayer there. She felt torn for parting with him so suddenly and ruined their time together but she just couldn't do it.

Eventually, she finally stopped running as she found herself in a huge garden to which she didn't know of. There was no one around but she guessed it's a good thing. She slowly paced forward to the silent garden and stood before a tree infront of her.

"R-Really, I'm such an idiot..." She mumbled before letting out some tears from her eyes as it formed tiny droplets and finally dropped to the soft and grassy ground underneath her.

She placed her left hand towards the bark of the tree and began to contemplate about her feelings.

 _'Why? Even though I changed, there was never any progress on my part.'_

Even though she managed to show him of how much she had changed, she feels empty. She can't explain why but there's something that made all her actions as of now feel empty and unrecognized.

 _'It hurts. Why does it hurt too much? Even though it's just a small matter.'_

She looked down to the ground as her tears are starting to flow more often from both of her eyes and finally sat beside the tree and hugged her bent knees to cover her tears.

 _'It's no use. I can't really stop this.'_

She felt her heart aching again as she tried to clench it hard to somehow stop its pain.

 _'I feel so pathetic right now. If Natsu sees her in this, he would be really mad.'_

The name of the pinkette voiced back to her ears as she tried to remember their time back when they were together. She wanted more time, she wanted to experience those treasuring memories with him alone. All these years of ignoring him and considering him as a close friend was a huge failure on her part. She deeply regretted for letting their relationship to be stay like that. She regretted the times she simply turned her attention away after being given a second chance by him.

Her feelings are beginning to pour out once more as she desperately want the man whom she entrusted her whole faith into, whom she finds warmth from the cold and dark world, and to the man who's flames have finally melted her armored heart for too long. She wanted her to see him again.

"I-I just want to spend more time with him. . . . .I-I want to create memories with him. . . . .I-I-I just want to be beside with him forever!"

She shouted desperately at the tranquility of the garden as her voice sounded through the said garden. There was no response to answer her wails. She was all alone with nothing to lean on or to talk to. Her tears were already dropping through her dress as continued for a few moments.

 _'I really want to see him again... ... ...Natsu.. ... ..."_

She closed her eyes, hugging her knees tightly as she tried to force out her sadness. She lost all her strength, completely unguarded with her vulnerable side at this time.

Before her sadness could even continue even further, she felt a soft, warm and gentle embrace enveloping her entirely, slightly widening her teary eyes in surprise. She slowly looked up and found Natsu, gently wrapping his arms around her protectively.

The winds suddenly blew as the warm breeze swept past between them like an ethereal river, washing them endlessly in the tranquility of the place around them. Her hair swayed majestically in the direction of the breeze together with the plants and trees around them. Erza looked over the dragonslayer who had his eyes closed with a solemn expression. He knelt himself before her as he had his arms around her to comfort her warmly.

"N-Natsu... ... ..." She whispered involuntarily for his name.

The pinkette simply smiled in content as he began to speak solemnly with his eyes closed.

"Idiot...(Baka...) If you really wanted to spend more time, then you could've just ask. Do you know how much I would be happy if you asked me that?"

It was then Erza's tears finally flowed out entirely from her eyes as she can't control her emotions anymore and finally let it out in one big wave that rushed through her heart altogether.

"N-Natsu... ... Natsu... ...(sob*)... ... Natsu... ...(sob*)..." She cried to his name and hugged back the dragonslayer as she dug her head towards him, clenching his waistcoat tightly as tears dripped into it, thereby soaking it in the process. Natsu gently hugged her tightly, never letting her go from his grasp. He'd just knelt there, waiting for her to shed all her tears to him.

"Let it out Erza... ... ...I'm here for you... I will never leave you ever... ...I'll be right by your side now and always..."

They stayed like that for a few moments as both two didn't want to break away from their tight embrace. The aching pain of her heart have finally vanished. Her tears have stopped but she still wanted to remain in his embrace to which he didn't mind in the slightest. The breeze has stopped moving as the plants stopped their wonderful dance with the wind and went still, bathed in the silent atmosphere.

"You okay now?"

"T-Thank you Natsu..."

"Welcome..." He simply returned back to his usual toothy grin which she finds it more adorable as she finally smiled at him.

Natsu helped her back to her knees as they began to stand up. They motioned themselves facing each other. Their eyes never leaving each other's gazes. It was not long before Erza suddenly dived back to his chest, hugging him tightly with her arms.

"Don't leave me okay?" Natsu simply smiled in relief as he reached out to pat her head gently with his hand. He honestly didn't care to witness her vulnerable side. In fact, he finds them to be the same as the Erza he'd always talked to and lived with in the company of his family and friends. She doesn't need to act like she usually does in front of them, she could just freely show her unique side with the others. Freely show them how embarrassed, flustered, and shy she can be, just like what she usually does with him.

"I won't... ..."

The bright orange light of the sun illuminated through the sky as Natsu and Erza finally broke away from their embrace and watched the majestic view of the celestial body in front of them.

"The day is ending... ..."

"Yeah... ..." Erza muttered sadly.

"Then it's a good thing..." He paused as he stood up, getting Erza to widen her eyes on his answer.

"...Cause tomorrow, we have more time to spend with each other right?"

In his answer, Erza blushed while still keeping a warm smile towards the dragonslayer.

"Yeah..."

The two began to walk back towards their home as they had finished their time for today. Erza was walking beside the pinkette while stealing quick glances on the him with each passing minute. It didn't take long for them to finally reach the path separating them from their destinations towards their separate homes.

"Well I guess this is it."

"Yeah..." She spoke solemnly.

"Don't worry. I already made a promise with you..." Natsu spoke proudly.

"Promise with me?"

"I'll make sure that I will do my best to make you happy Erza..." The scarlet knight blushed as she shook her head with her cheeks tinted in deep red color.

"Then, let me return a favor Natsu... Can you please listen to it?" She spoke, her face shadowed her expression. Natsu leaned on to hear her favor only to have himself to be caught off guard as the scarlet knight held her hands on both sides of his face and planted a soft kiss on top of his forehead. His eyes widen in shock at her actions as Erza simply leaned down to his ears and whispered something that even putted him into a more shocking state as the redhead broke away from him and smiled warmly at him.

"E-Erza? What was that just now?"

"Hmm... ... Who knows? I think you should be the one finding its answers Natsu..." She smiled warmly as Natsu was still left in a daze at her sudden kiss.

"See you tomorrow Natsu." And with that she took off without wasting any second as she disappeared from his sight in mere seconds only.

He was still left dumbfounded of what happened. He couldn't comprehend it as it really baffled him greatly. I mean, she literally kissed him on the forehead-Wait, this has happened before. It's like when he was caught off guard by Mira. No, it can't be... ... ...

 _'SHE TRICKED ME! ! ! I LET MY GUARD DOWN AGAIN! ! !'_

 _~ ~ ~ I love you. ~ ~ ~_

* * *

 **A/N: Bwuah! Finally finished! Took quite longer than I expected but alas, it's finished. Hope ya like it :)**

 **Oh and yes, Erza did confessed to Natsu as she was the first girl to confess her true feelings to our dragonslayer. But of course, Natsu being Natsu, it will take time for him to realize it yet thus the battle intensifies.**

 **Still not decided about the confirm pairing in this story xD. So basically this would probably end with a harem ending...**

 **Erza and Mira are officially in the harem. Mwuahaha!**

 **NaMi vs NaZa! The fight of the century! xD But seriously I'm just joking...**

 **Anyways, did you like the chapter? Leave a fav or even follow the story to keep yourselves updated :)**

 **Your thoughts about the story? Leave a review! It's common courtesy. I'd appreciate it :)**

 **Until next time guys. See ya on Chapter 13. It's time to move on to the next girl ^^ I have a special announcement there, look forward in it.  
It's not bad news though if some of you are thinking it like that. xD**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ...**


	13. The Sky Maiden Strikes Back

**A/N: Hi guys. wiErD here. And here we are to the next arc and with a new girl. Well, actually there would be bonus chapters with two girls participating on this arc hehe.**

 **Guess who? It's Sara and Wendy! Yes, they're about to take the spotlight together as Sky Maidens. I'd personally called Sara as another Sky Maiden since they have same magic Wendy :) You could call them Sky Sisters in the future but if Chelia comes around, I'd called it, Sky Triplets. Pretty lame right? Lol. Anyway, speaking of Chelia, do you want her in the harem? Vote for the incoming poll now.**

 **So for the two girls, it will go long unto 2 - 4 chapters with each of them taking it on separately. I'll be on Nitro mode *_***

 **Then again, let me remind all of you that Wendy had grown from the time-skip of this story so she would be old enough like the others.**

 **Look forward on how will Natsu deal with these two maidens in this arc.**

 **Enjoy. Have fun and Happy Reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I will never own FT or its characters ever. Just own my OCs ^^**

* * *

 **\- The Sky Maiden Strikes Back -**

It was already night and the fire dragonslayer had gone home back to his house. It was still in its clean state, done my Mirajane one time and the silent atmosphere fell through the halls of the house. Natsu rested himself on the hammock, pondering. He was deeply confused about what happened back with Erza earlier. What does she mean about that? His mind began to flash back at the garden where he heard all of it loud and clear.

 _'I love you.'_

His thoughts played back through his time with the scarlet knight who really changed herself in so many ways. She's no longer wearing that strong figure when she talks to him. Heck, she even cried right in front of him which he somehow finds it bothersome in his part. He's not angry or anything towards her for being able to cry like that. It's just rare for her to do the things that happened today.

Plus, her reason to cry like that was simply because she missed his presence. He could somehow feel that he was at fault of why she cried like that. Maybe it's because he didn't pay to much attention to her even after all these years.

 _'I love you.'_

Again, those three simple words that came out from her mouth suddenly returned back to his head.

 _'What does she mean love me? Does it mean that she like me? Or like, like me more? Into what extent does she mean by that?_

Natsu scratched his head in irritation as he wasn't able to come up a conclusion. There is no way for him to solve any of this in his own. He's not saying he is dependent but this kind of thing is very difficult for him to understand. Years of spending time with his friends and family was probably enough for him to get a glimpse of it but he didn't even took one step to delve into that kind of topic. He's been fighting for the sake of his friends for too long and that's the only thing he knew so far.

Love is sure a mysterious word for him.

Igneel taught him about love. He said that love comes from those who always protects and fights for their family and comrades when they're in danger. He also said that it forms from the memories he shared from the others around him.

Well, he was able to show it in front of his new family and friends. He loved them wholly, shared memories with them, fought for their sakes, and even protected them with his might. What else he should do to express this 'love' to his friends and family?

His mind reverted back to the thought of his father. Natsu frowned as his mind focused back to his foster dragon who started everything. The only dragon who took him in and taught him the ways of the world. His eyes soften at the thought as he began reminisce the memories he shared with his proud father.

"Igneel. . . . . . .I wonder what you were doing right now..." His words trailed off in thought as he suddenly close his eyes to rest from today's ordeal. Damn, he really needs his father more than ever. He wanted some advice right now coming from him. At least, save him from these girl problems.

As he was contemplating about his thoughts about his father, the door of his house slammed open, revealing his blue Exceed coming towards him in glee.

"Natsu! You're home!"

"Yo! Happy!" Natsu smiled before setting aside his thoughts at the moment in order to prevent him from noticing his inner troubles. He really doesn't want Happy to get so worried over him. His smile is probably the best thing he's ever seen in his life and he would make sure that he wants it to stay like that for as long as he could. He got off from his hammock and proceeded to the kitchen together with him to cook their dinner.

"You got home early..." Happy remarked as he finds it quite unusual for him since he always comes home late.

"Well, I finished what I had to do earlier."

"You mean, your date with Erza?" Happy blurted out, making Natsu to slightly lose his composure.

"It's not a date... Just a favor to accompany her to buy cakes."

"I see. Still a date to me..." Happy teased.

"I told you it's not-" He was cut off when Happy interrupted him.

"But I saw Erza in her red dress earlier. She was also smiling when she got back to Fairy Hills." The blue Exceed pondered in thought.

"R-Really? I'm gla-WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?"

"What am I doing? I always come over to the dorm to say hi to Charle..."

Natsu sighed. He's pretty sure that boys aren't allowed in Fairy Hills. Happy is no exception, though he had to wonder why they're tolerating his presence there. Maybe it's because he's an Exceed so it's no problem.

"So how did it go with Erza?" He asked the dragonslayer curiously.

"It went well.." He briefly spoke, not wanting to remember anything about earlier right now. His mind is already at its limits and thinking it too much will seriously destroy his brain soon.

"Come on, you can tell me Natsu... We're partners right?"

"I already told you we just ate some cakes."

"Since when did you take a liking on cakes?" He asked curiously.

"Yesterday..." He lied.

"You're no fun Natsu..." Happy pouted, seeing his partner is giving off quick answers without any concrete details. Well, he would've expected it since he was as dense and stupid when it comes to this kind of thing. He was slightly surprised that he was able to come out alive after that 'date' with Erza. Knowing him, he must have done something really stupid back there.

They two then began to talk again about different matters as they both worked on their dinner with Natsu simply acting as a stove to heat up their food in an average temperature to prevent it from turning it into a smoking carcass. It took them a couple of minutes to finish their cooking and presented it back to the table behind them. Natsu placed the grilled meat over the center while Happy was already chomping on his favorite fish in his mouth.

The two enjoyed their time together as the night continues. They both talked things regarding their jobs and both felt satisfied as their food perfectly sated their thirst and hunger for the night.

Eventually, they all both took their dishes into the sink and Natsu did the work on his own which shocked the Exceed in the process since he never found his partner to be responsible about household chores. He was really maintaining the cleanliness of their house right now. Happy decided not to pry since he finds this change a good thing for them. The smell of the room had changed and everything was utterly neat and tidy.

"Well, we better get ourselves some sleep. We need to take some jobs soon since we've been quite busy inside the guild without taking any."

"Aye. . . . Or maybe it's because that you were always dragged by one girl after another." He teased.

"Shut it Happy." Natsu scoffed but the blue Exceed flew in circles and smiled cheerfully around him as he eventually landed into his arms.

"I'm tired..."

"Me too. Come on, let's get some sleep." Natsu smiled warmly as he turned off the lacrima lights before going to his hammock with Happy in his arms.

Happy slept almost immediately as the moonlight once again, shone throughout the window giving them a faint source of light from the darkness. Natsu slowly gazed over the moon before him and began to think about the things he could do for tomorrow. Maybe he'll ask Erza again of what she just said or just let it go for now and try to figure this out for himself. She told him to find it in his own so the answers can only be found by himself. He just need to dig further but right now, he'll just have to spend time with her together with his friends.

His eyes slowly closed as his body felt dozy at the night. Eventually, his eyes finally rested and began to doze off to sleep in the time of the night.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile at Fairy Hills...**_

Wendy lay herself into her bed, looking at the dark ceiling above her. She began to turn over to her thought about the fire dragonslayer. From what she had seen over the past few days, it seems like that Mira and Erza are also making their moves on Natsu while she still haven't done anything yet to put her relationship with him on the next level. She just waited for him patiently but it seems Mira is taking every moment she could find to spend time with him.

She gripped her chest tightly as she bit her lip in frustration at the thought. She shifted herself to the side uncomfortably before stirring again to the other side, thinking about the same thought over and over again.

"Something wrong Wendy?" A familiar voice sounded below her bed, prompting her to turn over the side and look over to her Exceed, resting on her cat bed.

"N-Nothing Charle. Just thinking about something." She quickly replied before facing herself back to the other side. Meanwhile, the white Exceed knew what she was feeling.

"Is it about Natsu?"

The sky dragonslayer teen slightly cringed but tried to continue to face herself to the other side without facing her Exceed.

"You do know that you're not gonna stay like this forever Wendy. You need to make you own move with him if you're gonna win against those two." Charle reminded.

"I know but I don't know what to do once I'm alone with him."

"Show him how much of an important person you are to him." She firmly spoke, prompting the bluenette to turn over and finally face the Exceed.

"I-Important person?" She asked curiously.

"Yes. You really need show more confidence towards him. I can't say anything more about your actions after it happens, you'll just have to believe in yourself." She spoke in a motherly tone.

"What do you mean about that?"

"The answer is in your heart Wendy. Not mine, you'll have to find it yourself."

"But how could I find those ans-" She was cut short as Charle began to butt in once again, thereby cutting her off.

"What is Natsu to you?" She seriously asked. The sky dragonslayer stopped answering as she felt herself in a daze, thinking about the question laid upon her.

"What. . .is. . .Natsu. . .to. .me?" She stuttered as her thoughts about the pinkette began to flood back to her mind in a series of memories she'd spent time with him. The times she found herself being saved by him, countless times and the times he always fights for her sake in such tough battles. She began to look back carefully as she remembered the time where they spoke with each other about their dragons. How they comforted each other at the fated day where their dragons disappeared completely without any trace.

She was crying back at that time when she thinks about her foster dragons, Grandine and the only one who managed to comfort her was Natsu. He embraced her tightly as they shared the same feeling of being left alone when they were kids. She still remembered his warmth back then and couldn't help but clench her shoulders tightly as she once again, craved for his warm hug at this time.

And eventually after that, she began to look at him in a different light. She no longer looked up to him as an idol. His actions towards her definitely brought her to like him. Not just as a friend but something more deeper than friendship could give.

She bit her lips in frustration as her feelings were starting to overwhelm her. Oh, how she wanted to be beside him so badly. She doesn't know if it's her dragon hormones or instincts are the reason of why she was acting this way or it's just her desire to be with him more.

Charle could see the frustration in her eyes even though it's dark and began to speak.

"You gonna need to make your move soon Wendy." She repeated as the sky dragonslayer looked at her in a worried look.

"But what if I fail? What if Natsu-san doesn't return my feelings?" She whimpered that somehow made Charle annoyed at her assumptions.

"You always think about the bad consequences Wendy. You need to think also about the good ones. And do you think Natsu will really leave you like that?"

"B-But-"

"Be strong Wendy. You're the Sky Maiden. Does it mean something to you?" She replied softly.

"S-Sky Maiden. . . ." Wendy mumbled at the thought.

"You're quite different with the others since you possess something that they don't have. And you and Natsu are both dragonslayers. Does that give you an advantage?"

"How it does gives me an advantage?"

"You knew his pain, you understand his desire to reunite with his father as it was the same for you and your mother, and you definitely understand him more than anyone..." She paused before looking up to her in a motherly tone.

"...You'll just have to find a different way to approach to him. You don't need to copy what Mira and Erza do. You're unique in your way."

It was then, those words struck to her chest wholly... She's right, she doesn't need to look up to others and copy them. She'll have to create her own way on how she would be able to express her feelings to him. She'll just have to have a little confidence on her part and never back down. She wanted him to see her differently of what he really does. She deeply wanted to stay by his side forever.

Wendy slightly felt better and eventually, smiled contently before looking back at her with her softened eyes.

"Thank you Charle..."

"Don't mention it." She spoke gently as she could only smile at her dragonslayer.

"I...I'll definitely do my best tomorrow..."

"I have faith in you Wendy... ... ...But you need some rest for tomorrow okay?" She reminded, getting the bluenette to widen her eyes in realization.

"Oh, right! Good night Charle." She smiled before stirring over to the side, completely lightened up. Her worries are gone and she found her confidence.

Charle simply faced the dragonslayer teen and pondered in thought.

 _'You've really changed Wendy..'_

If she could somehow meet her foster dragon, she would've reported her of the good news. But she guessed that in time, she would be able to tell her that about Wendy's change. She was proud and she's sure that Grandine would be proud of her daughter. She stirred over the side, completely content of tonight's discussion and finally slept in peace.

 _'Good night Wendy... I'll be rooting for you...'_

* * *

 ** _The next day... (The streets of Magnolia..)_**

"Natsu! Hurry! We're gonna miss the awesome jobs." Happy called out to the dragonslayer who was sprinting behind his tail.

"Oh crap! We're definitely late." Natsu panicked as he managed to catch up to his flying Exceed.

"You bet we are. How come you were so late in waking up?" He complained back to the pink-haired dragonslayer.

"How should I know? I'm not the Sleeping Dragon for Igneel's sake." Natsu scoffed before focusing back and continued to run along the road before them.

"We might not get those job requests soon. Erza and the others might have picked some of them already."

"Seriously? No way, they're getting that!" Natsu screamed in frustration as he began to sprint as fast as he could.

Apparently, they were the ones who comes by at the guild in an early manner. Natsu wanted to get inside as soon as possible for the newly-posted requests in the Request Board for some awesome adventures together with his friends.

Normally, Natsu would wake up first since he serves as an alarm clock for the sleepy Exceed. His waking habits are also caused by his desire to get to the guild and beat the crap out of Gray or Gajeel who he finds annoying, though in this case however, he was still dozed off from his sleep earlier and Happy manages to wake up before him, only to realize that the day had started as it was already in the start of noon.

Right now, they're were making their way towards the street, leading to their guild. Some people turned around at the hasty duo as they zoomed past them in mere seconds. Natsu and Happy smiled in relief as they finally saw the guild from the distance. They're not that far away now.

The pinkette began to flare up his arms in fire, thereby granting him more speed as he began to ran faster than he was currently before. With Happy beside him in his Aera, the two steamrolled through the streets before facing a crowd of people blocking their way.

"Move out of the way! Dragonslayer coming through!" Natsu shouted, prompting the people to turn around and panic at the incoming dragonslayer. They all reacted almost immediately and created a way for the two as they came into view.

"It's the Salamander!"

"Move aside! Here he comes!"

"Go get 'em! Burn the guild down!"

The cheers of some people rang into their ears and Natsu suddenly popped an idea, coming from his head as he began to smirk before looking back at Happy.

"Happy, I knew a plan on how to get to the guild fast... Carry me high in the air."

"Aye." The Exceed agreed happily as he went behind Natsu's back and carried the back of his collar and used his wings to carry him up in the air as he commanded. With the help of his flames, they propelled themselves in a high altitude. They stopped on a sufficient level of flight as they looked towards the familiar guild below them. After a few moments of observing the guild in the air, Natsu looked back at Happy who nodded in response and was able to read his plan just from staring from his determined face.

Then in an instant, Happy performed a long loop in mid-air with Natsu in tow as they properly used a headstart and began to descend towards the guild, specifically fixed on the guild doors. The people below were completely unaware of what they're doing as they were left to watch high in skies as the duo began to make their descent towards the guild.

Meanwhile Natsu and Happy readied themselves as the former looked back at his partner with a confident smile, completely sure about their new stunt.

"Let's go Happy!"

"Aye! Sir!"

And in a moment, flames began to flare up from the pinkette's feet, thereby increasing their speed towards the guild doors. If there is one watching the duo from a great distance, then he could've probably see them breaking the sound barrier with their speed as they make their way fast towards the guild. Others would've mistaken it as a meteor threatening to crash to Magnolia. Basically, those two were up to no good.

The people sweatdropped as they finally realized what those two idiots are trying to do.

 _'HE'S CRASHING HIMSELF TOWARDS THE GUILD! ! !'_

Happy let go of the fire dragonslayer as they neared at the doors before flying away comically, avoiding himself to be caught up in the incoming crash. You could say that Happy acted as a plane while Natsu acted as a bomb as his face went head-first towards the guild.

What resulted after that was an explosion.

 **= = B-O-O-M* = =**

The guild doors exploded upon contact, kicking up dust and small embers that greatly startled the guild members inside, prompting them to turn their attention at the destroyed doors. Others stood up from their seats in alarm while some are blown away from the intense force who were unfortunate enough to be near at the entrance. Tables and chairs are launched into random directions, hitting nearby guild members and somehow knocked them out cold from the wooden impact. The others began to panic as they fixed their eyes on the column of smoke in disbelief.

"W-What happened?"

"A guild attack?"

"Shit! We're under attack!"

"Call the master!"

"Oh crap, he's out cold again from his booze."

"FUCK!"

A series of wails and shouts reverberated through the halls of the guild as some of the members were running in full circles due to panic and their master's absence on the situation. Erza and Mira stood up from the bar counter, turning their attention towards smoke column with narrowed eyes. Sara, Wendy and Lucy also neared towards the two S-Class mages as their eyes followed through the smoke at the entrance, awaiting the arrival of the unknown intruder.

"Who goes there?" Erza briefly shouted through the smoke, hoping for any answer but no response came.

It took only a few moments for the smoke to slowly dissipate into the air and the five girls jawdropped and their eyes widened as white saucers upon seeing their familiar dragonslayer seemingly dug himself face-first to the floor comically with his lower body left hanging on the floor, making slight twitches at the crash.

"Natsu?" Both girls spoke in unison as they recognized his clothes and eventually sweatdropped as Happy came into view from the outside.

"Hey guys! How do you like our grand entrance?" Happy smiled cheerily, earning some of the guild members a tick mark, popping over their veins in irritation towards the duo.

 _'THAT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF! ! !'_

Natsu tried to get himself out of the floor as he emerged from the ground with slight scratches with a toothy grin plastered on his face.

"Yo! Everyone, how're you all doing?"

And not soon after of what he just said, the other guild members felt their veins popping out in anger at innocent answer of the dragonslayer. He had the nerve in saying how're they doing after of what he'd just done earlier. Heck, everyone's not okay since he literally startled the shit out of them. Then suddenly, they were already surrounding the dragonslayer with intimidating glares. Natsu felt caution as his guildmates are seemingly looking for a challenge.

"Hoh, challenging me at the start of the day. I'm all fired up!" He roared as he clenched his fists in flames.

"SHUT UP SHITTY DRAGON! ! !"

"Oi! I'm not shitty. You must be referring to Iron-freak." Natsu retorted before pointing an accusing finger at the iron dragonslayer who happen to hear the insult.

"What did you say Salamander?" Gajeel stood from his seat and not long before that, the two dragonslayers were already butting their heads against each other as their auras glowing out from their respective bodies, leaving the unwanted guild members from the fight.

"DON'T IGNORE US DAMMIT! ! !"

As usual, the guild was instantly back to their usual routine as Natsu and Gajeel together with the ignored crowd of angry members, specifically at Natsu started the infamous guild brawl of Fairy Tail. There wasn't any change really, except the lack of guild doors that was broken down by a certain dragonslayer.

The five girls stood there frozen, still dumbfounded at the scene that transpired so quickly between them.

"Uh... What just happened?" Sara asked curiously at the two female S-Class mage though she immediately backed away together with Wendy and Lucy as they both noticed the frightening auras of the two former rivals, pouring out from their bodies as their gazes are focused into one person, Natsu Dragneel.

Natsu punched almost anyone in random directions, sending them flying with his flaming fists and left them with scorching marks on their butts. Gajeel took the opportunity as he got the fire dragonslayer occupied by small fries and extended his iron club towards his face in fast speeds. The fire dragonslayer didn't have time to react as the iron arm collided with his cheeks, sending a bone-cracking sound that resounded through the halls and went straight through a set of empty seats, destroying them in the process.

He immediately emerged from the wreckage before stretching his arms against the iron dragonslayer.

"That frickin' hurt ya bastard." Natsu sneered.

"There's plenty more where that came from Salamander." He smirked.

"Bring it on!"

Just they were about to clash with their fists together, Erza and Mira came into view before pulling Natsu's ears in respective sides making him to yelp in pain.

"Ow ow ow ow... Alright I give up!" Natsu winced as he tried to let go of their hold on his ears but they're too tight.

"Oi! We're in the middle of a fight here." Gajeel scoffed at the two female mages who immediately shadowed their expression upon hearing his strong defiance against them. And at that moment, everyone knew that the iron dragonslayer had dug his own grave.

 **"Requip: Purgatory Armor!"**

 **"Take Over: Satan Soul!"**

In an instant, both mages donned their magic as they glared over the brave iron dragonslayer.

"Hoh, you want a fight. I hate holding back against girls but you leave me no choi-" His words were interrupted as he was met by a tremendous hit by a large cleaver and a bone-cracking kick in the gut by the two mages who were glaring at him angrily.

"SHUT UP! ! !"

Gajeel never felt this kind of pain before as he crashed through the tables and chairs, completely unconscious. Natsu couldn't hold back his laughter despite being pulled in his ears by them.

"Hahaha! That what's you get from pissing them of- Ow! It hurts." He screamed in pain as he felt their tight pull on his ears.

"Don't think we forgot about you Natsu." Erza spoke in a serious tone that sent him shivers of fright throughout his spine.

"M-Me? What did I do?"

Mirajane and Erza simply pointed at the broken-door which made Natsu to sweat nervously.

"Mercy?" He innocently plead but the two didn't buy it as they dragged the dragonslayer behind the bar counter for his punishment.

"HELP ME! ! !"

Meanwhile, Wendy just watched the dragonslayer as he simply disappeared with the two for his impending punishment. She sighed, not knowing when she'll get a chance to be alone with him. It's really impossible for her to ask him alone without the interference of Mira and Erza. But she must not lose her hope. She'll have to fight them on even ground. She turned around, trying to keep her mind off for awhile as she made her way at the Request Board.

A few minutes later, Natsu returned without any bruises or any injuries as he came out from the bar counter with the two glaring female mages. Apparently, Erza and Mira have fought on the place of who should punish Natsu first. Well, the rest played through their argument and eventually turned out to be a heated glaring contest between, leaving Natsu's punishment out of the way.

Figures.

He was glad that they've been still battling it for some quite time now without remembering what they should really be doing.

"I said I need to be the first one Red!"

"I should be the first since I've been the one who's taking responsibilities for his mistakes.." Erza growled.

"No you're not. I'm the one doing the punishments since we're kids."

"Prove it."

 **POW***

With a loud sound, Erza was sent towards the other side of the guild, crashing into walls that buried the mage in the process. Mirajane knew that she just made it more worse and could only smile deviously at the debris as her all-time 'Demon' persona came back to her, shocking the whole guild. The debris suddenly erupted as Erza glowed in scarlet aura, seemingly flaring her magic once more.

"Now you really blew it."

"Oh, I'm sorry did I slap you too much?" Mirajane smiled in her devilish look as her voice was full of sarcasm towards the redhead.

"You're gonna regret hitting me like that."

"I'm scared... Bring it on Red." She mocked before glowing in her Satan Soul.

The two suddenly engaged themselves in an aerial battle once again. For the whole guild, it has already become a fact of life for them as they could only watch in amusement the high-speed clash between two female mages fighting for Natsu.

"They're at it again."

"Hope these newly-reinforced pillars will withstand from their battle."

"Let me guess, Natsu again right?"

Murmurs of other guild members were heard from the said dragonslayer as he twitched his brow in irritation. Why do they always blame him whenever Mira and Erza fight against each other.

Well, it's because he was the very sole reason of their every fight, though he still doesn't realize it.

Sighing under his breath, Natsu peered over from the broken table as he caught sight of the redhead, clashing with Mira again. He was slightly confused, for she was acting like nothing happened yesterday. Did it really bother her just like him? He didn't know anything as he saw her angry expression fixed only at her rival. He must overthinking about it too much.

Natsu sighed once again as he slumped his back at broken table and suddenly saw Wendy standing over the Request Board. She must be choosing some jobs right now. A smile crept into his lips as he began her way towards the bluenette skillfully away from the battling duo.

"Hey Wendy!" Natsu grinned as he passed a waving hand at the sky dragonslayer teen who squirmed upon hearing a familiar voice.

"N-Natsu-san." She exclaimed in surprise.

"So... what are you doing here?" He asked curiously.

"J-Just choosing some job requests."

"Cool. Same here but why not invite the whole team?"

"I'm just picking some easy quest for some money."

"Hmm... Might if I could come along?"

Wendy suddenly felt nervous as she was being asked by the pinkette. This is her chance. She looked back at the mayhem before them especially at Mira and Erza who were in the midst of their own destructive escapade. She bit her lip in frustration as she began to look back at the dragon quickly before instantly plucking out a random paper request and suddenly grabbed Natsu's arm before hastening towards the exit.

"We're leaving right now..." She spoke.

"W-Wait Wendy what about Happy?"

"You said you'll come along right?"

"Yeah."

"Then you're coming with me alone." She boldly stated making the dragonslayer confused.

"Okay, but what about my things?"

"We'll get some supplies at the town." Wendy finished as Natsu simply sighed as he let himself be dragged by the sky dragonslayer and went out from the guild. Charle noticed her dragonslayer's actions and could not help but chuckle at the sight as they departed. But she immediately looked over the two female mages who stopped their fight and looked over the entrance and saw the dragonslayer being dragged away by Wendy.

"W-What is Wendy doing?"

"Let's go after them..."

But before they could tail the two dragonslayers, Charle went passed between them with her paws stretched wide thereby, stopping their advance any further.

"Sorry but you can't follow them." The white Exceed firmly spoke, getting Erza and Mirajane to stop from their tracks as they narrowed their eyes over the suspicious Exceed.

"What do you mean Charle?" Mira inquired.

...

...

"Wendy... will not lose." Charle simply smirked as she held her ground, facing the two formidable female mages with a determined expression from her face. Erza and Mirajane were able to understand what she meant behind those words.

"So... even Wendy-chan too?" The demon barmaid smiled in thought.

"Well, I guess that's a good thing." Erza pondered in thought, getting Charle and Mirajane to widen her eyes in surprise.

"H-How is it a good thing?"

"It means the more competition, the better. But I won't lose to her as well as you Mirajane." Erza smirked.

"Who says I'm even trying? I can get Natsu into me everytime I want to." The white-haired barmaid bluntly answered with a devilish smirk forming up her lips, getting Erza to blush at the inappropriate answer. Even Charle was blushing at the barmaid's shocking answer that made her face fluster.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY! ! !"

"Huh? Are you trying to pick a fight Red?"

"S-S-Shameless demon wench!"

* * *

 _ **At the streets of Magnolia... (Near the outskirts...) Afternoon.**_

Wendy and Natsu trudged slowly as they went passed the crowd with some bought supplies on their hands. Currently, Natsu was carrying all of their supplies on his back with Wendy looking at the map of Fiore in her hands.

"So where exactly are we going?" Natsu asked curiously.

"To a city called Valthum..."

"And how far is that?"

"Just a ten-hour travel by train while a day by walking on foot."

"I vote for walking..." Natsu suddenly raised his hands in nervousness.

"Fufufu... I knew you would say that but I can just cast Troia on you on the way right?"

"It doesn't last long enough..." Natsu pouted.

"Okay... We'll travel on foot." Wendy decided, giving Natsu a huge sigh of relief as they finally began their travel through the road at the outskirts of Magnolia. They didn't talk along the way as the two simply walked beside each other without having anything to say to each other. But Natsu suddenly remembered something that's been bugging him for some quite time now and decided to ask her.

"By the way Wendy, why were you on a such a rush earlier?" Wendy slightly blushed as she tried to keep her composure towards the dragonslayer.

"W-Well, it's because I just wanted to get the job done early to get the reward."

"I guess it makes sense. But what about the paper request? Does it say something about the mission?"

"No. It only said about coming over to Valthum. There's nothing else written in it except the reward and the instructions."

Meanwhile, Natsu pondered in thought of the unusual request paper.

"Strange..."

"Natsu-san?" Wendy asked worriedly as she saw the dragonslayer deeply in thought.

"A-Ah, it's nothing..." Natsu managed to get himself back from his thoughts and smiled at the sky dragonslayer teen.

The two continued their journey once again as they walked through the road, leading to a forest. Eventually, the time of the day is slowly coming to a night fall as the sun was again, over the horizon. The sky is beginning to darken and the light was gradually replaced by the blackness of the incoming night.

"...Anyway, I think we should settle for now. It's getting late." Natsu suggested as he looked up in the red sky above him, prompting the sky dragonslayer to look up.

"Yep..." She spoke as she settled down her things with Natsu doing the same as he laid down his supplies and took out some wood piles and bedrolls for the night.

They settled down near a pond as Wendy brought out some food ranging from raw meat to packed jellies and sweets. Natsu laid the wood at the center and used his flames to light up the wood, making a campfire to give them light for the night. He returned back and picked the bedrolls and laid them beside the campfire to keep them warm when they sleep, though Natsu doesn't need one since his body is adjustable, depending on the temperature around him.

Eventually, the night came as the campfire overlap the shadows of the trees surrounding them. The sound of the cold breeze swept from the tree leaves, rustling infrequently at the unpredictable movements of the wind. The moon and stars began to occupy the sky as they gave off light and a beautiful setting at the dark world.

Currently, Natsu and Wendy sat in a make-shift log near the fire, eating their food. They didn't talk for some quite time now and Wendy was beginning to feel uneasy. She was given the chance to be alone with him but she can't seem to act afterwards. She doesn't know what to do next.

The silence between them was really awkward especially for the sky dragonslayer.

After finishing her food, she stood up.

"I'll be soaking myself at the pond..."

"Okay..." Natsu spoke as he chomped on his food.

"Don't you peek." Wendy suddenly shot up a flustered glare at the pinkette who simply nodded in response and wasn't aware of the warning she just gave. He's just so focused on the food.

Within a few moments, Wendy walked around the trees with her new set of clothes and found the small pond before her. The pond waters reflected the moonlight above, giving off a white-bluish color on random directions. The clearness of the water formed sparkling lights that could be mistaken as diamonds. Wendy unzipped her dress as she carried the towel and wrapped it around her body. She took a careful step to the shallow pool as she slowly dipped her feet to the warm waters and slowly walked over the corner before unwrapping her towel and put it on the side and gently sat in the pond, bending her knees and letting most of her body covered in the waters except her head.

The warm waters touched her body soothingly as she relaxed herself looking at the night sky, thinking deeply.

"This isn't really going to work now is it?" She silently whispered at the open space.

She doesn't have enough confidence to make a move. She can't really think of a way to approach him in her own might. It's too complicated to do it. Mira and Erza seems they have their own ways on how to show their affections on Natsu but she has none. It's because she was scared. Scared that it might ruin their relationship.

 _'NO! I don't want that.'_

Is just there any way to get him to notice me?

"What do you think Grandine? What do you think I should do?" Wendy whispered in thought of her foster dragon. Looking to the sky somehow reminded her of her mother. Her memories of her foster mother came back rushing to her.

* * *

 _ **Flashback...**_

 _"Mom! What is love?"_

 _The great white-feathered dragon made a slow shift on its gigantic body and it lowered its head towards the little blue-haired girl who asked a very peculiar question._

 _ **"Oh my, why would you want to know such a word at your age?"** The dragons spoke fiercely on its mouth while maintaining a pleasant voice, letting out small breathes that somehow blew back the little girl's hair._

 _"I just want to know since you said it once on your story?" She asked innocently in a light voice._

 _The dragon simply closed its large eyes in thought before opening them again and began to speak._

 ** _"My child, love is something that forms when someone regards the other as an important existence."_**

 _"Important existence?" Wendy tilted her head in confusion of the new word._

 ** _"It is called to someone who are irreplaceable in your life. Like there's nothing to replace them with simple things given from the world."_**

 _"Like you?" Grandine could only nod her giant head lightly at the blue-haired girl._

 ** _"Of course, my dear. This is what you call love. But there will others who will be the same as me. One day, you'll regard them irreplaceable and precious in your life."_**

 _Wendy could only pout in a cute way as she proceeded to hug its snout gingerly._

 _"Eeeeh?! I don't need anyone. You're enough for me Grandine. I love you alone." Grandine could only smile at the little girl._

 _ **"Now, now. Don't be like that Wendy. Even I alone, could not give you enough happiness that others can."**_

 _"But I'm quite happy more than ever. I don't need it." She adamantly refused but Grandine soften her breathing as she wrapped the little girl in her body._

 ** _"There will be a time that I might disappear from your eyes Wendy..."_** _Grandine slightly frowned as her giant eyes focused down on the little girl._

 _"Are you going to leave me?" She could feel her tears, threatening to pour out from the sad statement._

 ** _"I'm not going to leave you. But there are times that I'm not here to comfort you with your problems. That's why you have friends whom you can call as precious and irreplaceable to comfort you in those times."_**

 _"Friends?"_

 _ **"Yes, you will meet them in time as you grow. They will take care of you just as I did to you. They will love you in the bottom of their hearts and even protect you from your nightmares."**_

 _"R-Really?" Wendy asked getting the white dragons to lightly nod its head in response._

 ** _"That's why Wendy. Don't be scared, you'll always have friends that will share their love with you. And always remember that I will be always in your heart. No matter, how far away you are, you can always feel me in your heart."_**

 _"Thank you Grandine...I love you! (Daisuki!)"_

 ** _"I love you too Wendy."_**

* * *

Wendy suddenly opened her eyes as she began to wake up and eventually found herself in the pond.

"A dream?"

She suddenly took a careful look at her surroundings before sighing in relief. It seems like she's been out for too long. She must have fallen asleep during her bathe at the pond. A piece of her past suddenly came back to her mind without knowing and turned into a dream. She didn't know why but she felt like that Grandine was trying to give her an advice. She placed her right hand to her bare chest and smiled inwardly at the thought of her mother. She was really watching her all this time.

"Thank you Grandine..." She whispered silently before looking back to the path leading back to the campfire.

 _'Hmm. I wonder if I waited too long.'_

Wendy pondered in thought. It seems like she's been taking her time longer than she'd expected. Natsu might become worried. She slowly sink herself to the pond before making a splash as her silky blue hair swayed upwards and sent some tiny droplets of water up in the air as she took a deep breath, looking up to the sky solemnly.

Meanwhile back at the campfire, Natsu crawled into his bedroll, staring blankly at the bright fire before him. Apparently, he's been patiently waiting for Wendy to come back since she was taking a bath at the pond behind the campfire. His food was already gone since he finished it in just a few minutes ago. Without having to do anything, he simply went back to his bedroll waiting.

"Wendy's sure taking her time..." Natsu muttered as he still waited for her to come back. He knew that taking a bath wasn't that long for normal people and the sky dragonslayer has been out for too long. Then for some reason, he couldn't help but worry. What if she was kidnapped without him noticing it.

He suddenly shook off the thought since he has some keen sense of smell. He could easily sniff out any unusual scents coming towards them. But for some reason, he could not smell her scent and the lushness of the forest make it hard for him to distinguish her scent.

"Ugh! I'll go take a look." Natsu yanked his hair in irritation because of his extreme worry over the sky dragonslayer teen. He stood up from his bedroll and began to walk around the trees where the path to the pond leads him. He raised his hands to brush away the thick branches and leaves that is currently blocking his path towards it. He gritted his teeth in irritation since these trees are so plainly annoying.

After a few moments, he managed to find the pool.

"Wendy! Wendy! Where are you? You've been out too long so I had to check-" He stopped before witnessing, a momentarily glimpse of an unknown figure, suddenly emerging from the center of the pool, leaving him in a state of trance. The slender figure swayed her silky hair upwards to reduce the wetness of her hair and slowly lifted up her face facing the heavens with her closed eyes. The shining reflections of the waters make it hard for him to see much of her naked body but it was enough for him to recognize who it is. Then in a moment, he face suddenly froze.

Wendy slowly opened her eyes at the night and slowly began to turn over the voice that she heard. Then in an instant, their eyes met each other's gazes as if they were left in a daze. Natsu was still standing there, unable to do anything at the situation. Meanwhile, Wendy stood there completely stunned at the presence of the fire dragonslayer before her.

"... ...Natsu... ..." Then in an instant, her face suddenly went up in high temperatures.

"KKKKYYYYYAAAAA! ! ! !" She screamed out in embarrassment as she desperately retreated back to the waters and tried to get her towel to cover herself.

Natsu was simply snapped back from his thoughts due to her scream that made him blushed and quickly turned around, avoiding any eye contact with the naked teen.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! ! !"

"~~Natsu-san~~" Wendy squeaked.

"Eh?"

"NATSU! ! ! YOU ECCHI! ! !" She screamed in frustration before charging up her own elemental roar almost instantly and pointed it towards the unsuspecting pinkette.

 **"Sky Dragon's Roar! ! !"**

"Gaaaahhh! ! !"

* * *

 _ **A few minutes later...**_

Natsu and Wendy sat away from each other, not trying any eye contact with each other. Wendy had already changed into her new set of clothes. After with the disastrous accident at the pool, neither of them can't seemed to face with each other normally especially Wendy who was still blushing at the whole accident earlier. Of course, she would be greatly embarrassed after accidentally letting the man she likes, show her naked body in full glory without anything to cover herself at the spur of the moment. It was the most embarrassing scene she had just witnessed.

 _'GRANDINE. WHEREVER YOU ARE, PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU! ! I CAN'T STAND THIS! !'_ Wendy inwardly cried in frustration.

After awhile, she began to glance around the fire dragonslayer who was still facing away from her, seemingly unable to face her too.

"D-Did you see it?" She began to ask while keeping a flustered face for such an embarrassing question.

"W-What?"

"Did you manage to see it?"

"Well, I did see a body of an angel-" He honestly answered but was stopped until Wendy frantically squeaked in horror.

"So you did see it! I'm done for... ... Waaah! !" Wendy cried.

Natsu turned around and began worried over the crying bluenette who was comically kneeling down to the ground sobbing over his answer.

"O-Oi Wendy. Don't cry." He walked over to comfort her.

"But you seen all of it. You'll have... ... ... ...to ... ... take responsibility."

"I don't get what you mean but I'll do it if it makes you to calm down."

His innocent answer only fueled her flustered face even more. And in just a second, she finally fainted, shocking Natsu in the process.

"H-Hey Wendy!" He shouted in panic but was immediately replaced with relief as he managed to see her involuntary chuckles. It seems like she just slept happily in her dreams. Or so he thought. He sighed as he couldn't really handle himself with girls. He grabbed Wendy bridal-style and led her into her bedroll and gently laid her down as he lifted the blanket and covered her as she dozed off through the night. He smiled contently as he stroked her hair gently before heading back to his bedroll and lay down for the night.

 _'Igneel if you can hear me? I need help. I mean, right now.'_

He began to sleep as he felt slightly at peace without any problems reaching unto his dreams.

A few hours passed and it was already midnight.

Wendy slightly woke up from her sleep as she immediately found herself already laid into her bedroll. She doesn't know how she got herself in her bedroll as her memories were quite groggy. She began to look back to her thoughts and immediately remembered the time where she was accidentally found by Natsu in her naked body which resulted some awkwardness between. Her face immediately blushed as she finally remembered it all. She looked over the presence of the pinkette around her.

The fire is out and only the faint light of the moon, shone through the night. Eventually, she caught sight of him sleeping in his own bedroll but not in a proper way as Natsu was sleeping facing up with his arms spread out. A drool can be seen flowing back and forth from his mouth as he slept heavily.

Wendy gripped her shoulders tightly as the cold breeze touched her skin, sending her shivers. She looked at the sleeping dragonslayer and hesitated for a moment. Even though with her blanket covering her, it wasn't enough.

With one final decision, she quietly got up from her seat and went over the dragonslayer and gently rested her head on one of his arms while looking at him intently.

"J-Just for tonight..."

She whispered as she began to doze off to sleep. Natsu caught the unusual weight on his arms as he stirred sideways and hugged the sleeping bluenette in her arms and slept peacefully as the night went on towards tomorrow.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey there. Chapter 13's done. Finally finished the chapter but it needs more 1 chapter to finish her arc and move on to Sara so wait for me there. :)**

 **Not much to say below here since much have been said above.**

 **See ya guys on Chapter 14 and don't forget to review.**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ...**


	14. Unique In Her Own Way

**A/N: Yow guys. Back with another chapter. Seriously, my eyes were threatening to bulge out from tiredness. *_***

 **But whatever, as long as I can post my chapters in an early basis then I have no problem of letting them bulge out completely.**

 **Seriously, it was just a joke. But man, I'm tired with these typing. But I must have a goal to at least get this to the second major arc before the end of the month which is 4 - 5 more chapters away. Don't forget, I'm on Nitro mode *_***

 **This features the last chapter for Wendy's arc. Read along as Natsu and Wendy go along with their adventures.**

 **Have Fun and Happy Reading...**

 **Some additional information regarding my story: (Fictional)**

 **Phallanite \- a rare mineral found in the deepest parts of the ground. It is white bluish in color and contained a substantial amount of magical properties that can be utilized into various purposes.**

 **Valthum \- the second largest city in Fiore. One of its landmarks was the Obelisk of Light which was recently constructed after the events of the GMG/Dragon Festival. It also serves as a defense for the city for any threat, though it was proved useless against the superweapons of the Magic Council.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor its characters... I just own my OCs...**

* * *

 **\- Unique In Her Own Way -**

The day had started as the two arrived at the city of Valthum. Not much is known for the city as it was depicted as the second largest city in Fiore next to Crocus. It was bustling with a multitude of rich folks in their various fancy clothes as they walked past them. Natsu and Wendy looked around in awe at the great city. It was adorned with classy medieval cultures as the structures around them are mostly made in stone walls. Shops of different kind shared the same structures and at the center was a large and tall obelisk that points to the sky. The properties of it is very much different from the rest of the city as it was made out of 'Phallanite'. The bright light of the sun reflected its color towards the city. Beside the obelisk was a castle made out of stone walls similar that of the city itself.

Natsu gazed over the obelisk in amazement as it was his first time seeing such a structure.

"Hey Wendy! Look at that. It's so cool!" The fire dragonslayer called out to the bluenette who was looking at the paper request carefully. Wendy slightly lifted her head briefly to see the majestic obelisk before going back to her paper at hand.

Natsu felt slightly depressed as he saw his fellow dragonslayer, seemingly not happy about the city. He immediately remembered their time back at the camp last night and could not help but feel depressed about it.

 _'So she's still mad at me huh?'_

Wendy sifted through the map of the city, she just recently bought for a brief moment before folding it back to her pocket and began to walk.

"Let's go Natsu-san." She spoke in a monotone voice which Natsu finds it unusual but followed her nonetheless. He kept himself quiet as the two began to make their way towards the client.

 _'She's really mad at me!'_

They walked through the city with Wendy on the lead while Natsu tailing from behind, carrying their supplies. The pinkette tried to keep a close distance between her to prevent themselves from splitting up but since he doesn't want her from getting mad at him again, he kept a safe distance to give her some space. They walked for a few minutes before arriving to a large hotel. Wendy took a deep breathe as she made her way slowly inside with Natsu following her in tow.

The interior of the hotel was full of luxurious decoration as it was adorned with beautiful paintings hanging on the walls, the lobby was lightened by a crystalline lacrima chandelier and the floor was completely made out of golden ceramic tiles and a long red carpet was laid at the entrance reaching over the stairs of the 2nd floor of the hotel.

Natsu and Wendy could only stare in awe at the magnificent hotel before they were greeted by a lady.

"Good morning. May I help you two?" The lady gently asked. Wendy simply handed the paper request as she began to answer.

"We were instructed to enter this hotel from this paper..."

The lady took the paper and patiently read the contents before folding it and handed it back to the sky dragonslayer.

"This way please." The lady smiled before motioning herself, leading them behind the lobby of the hotel. They stopped for a moment as Natsu and Wendy waited for the lady who was standing before a wall. Their eyes followed as the lady pulled over a bottle of wine, revealing a small mysterious button behind it. She pushed it lightly before putting the bottle back into place. Then in an instant, the wall suddenly slid open aside revealing a secret passage with stairs leading below the underground.

Wendy and Natsu were shocked to see such an underground passage inside a hotel and could not help but feel uneasy.

"W-What's this?" Natsu asked confusingly.

"It's a passage leading to a secret room below the hotel. Your client is waiting there." The lady explained.

"Is it alright?" Wendy butted in.

"Don't worry. It's completely safe there. The client has a habit of meeting with someone like you in secret as he was a very important asset of this city."

"Important asset?" Wendy pondered curiously.

"You'll find out soon. Go on, he's right down there waiting for you two." The lady smiled as she led the two below, before returning back to the lobby and closed the passage leading back to the hotel. Natsu and Wendy stood there dumbfounded at the turn of events. He looked over to the sky dragonslayer beside her.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yes. Natsu-san." She spoke briefly before walking past by him and began to take the steps down. Natsu sighed inwardly as he followed her in a close distance. They silently took the stairs for a few minutes without talking to each other. They just focused on their steps towards the stairs as the silent atmosphere between them continued. But Natsu had enough of the silence and began to speak.

"Uhh, Wendy?" He spoke to the sky dragonslayer ahead of him. Wendy briefly stopped as she glanced around to face the pinkette.

"Yes?" She asked upon mentioning her name.

"Are you mad at me?"

Wendy didn't speak right away as both of them are left staring each other's eyes for a moment. After a few seconds, Wendy returned to her previous venture and began to walk downstairs again before speaking in a monotone.

"Not really..."

Natsu was about to ask again but he knew that it will not satisfy his worries over the bluenette. He sighed for the third time of the day and simply followed after her in silence. He wanted to apologize about last night but he knew it will take more than just a simple sorry to be forgiven by her. Of course, he accidentally saw her completely naked at the pond because he was worried but he approached her in a wrong time and that made her to ignore him since the start of the morning.

He had to ponder about that though. How did she able to sleep beside him at night? He was sure that he'd laid her back in her own bedroll last night. He was panicking that time when he found her sleeping next to him but he had to stop when she woke up and simply passed an emotionless expression to greet him and went back to her bedroll as if nothing happened about her sleeping next to him. Then the rest of the morning continued, with her avoiding as much contact with him. He wanted to apologize but he doesn't know how.

A few minutes of walking downstairs led them to a room. Similar that of the interiors back at the hotel, the room was filled with many luxurious ornaments that are placed neatly on shelves, two seats are situated at the center of the room, facing a sofa. A figure was seen, comfortably sitting in the said sofa reading a book carefully with his glasses. He was a middle-aged man wearing a grey tuxedo with a black necktie located at his chest. He wore a pair of black shoes, his black hair was slicked back with a matching extremely trimmed mustache.

He closed his book as he noticed the presence of the two and simply smiled.

"Welcome... Please take a seat."

Natsu and Wendy simply accepted his offer and went to sit in one of the vacant seats presented to them.

"I'm sorry that I had to meet with you two in secret, Fairy Tail mages."

"I-It's nothing really. We're just not used in meeting our clients like this." Wendy sincerely apologized.

"Well, I have to be very secretive since my advisers are so very strict in letting me outside the castle once in awhile. Can they just let me go just for once?" The man simply shook his head in depression, getting the two dragonslayers seemingly confused at his words.

"So you're our client?" Natsu asked as the man could only nod at his question.

"We were told to come here with this letter..." Wendy paused before handing out a piece of paper from her pocket to the man.

"... We really don't know what exactly is the job after picking it." The man simply shook his head in satisfaction and began to look up to the two mages.

"Don't worry. I was about to tell you about my request but first let me introduce myself... My name is Kurtis Valthumal."

After introducing the himself in front of the two mages, Natsu raised a hand in question.

"Isn't it that the name of this city?"

"Yes, indeed." Kurtis smiled until Wendy finally realized who he really is.

"Y-Y-You are... the ruler of this city!"

"Oh, so you finally knew..." Kurtis grinned at the bluenette.

"...Nice to meet you Fairy Tail mages. Welcome to Valthum, I hope my city has fared you well from your travels."

"N-Nice to meet you Kurtis-sama. I'm Wendy Marvell." The sky dragonslayer sincerely bowed down in front of him with respect.

"Yo! I'm Natsu Dragneel. Do you have some strong mages out here. I'd like a challenge." Natsu grinned, not long before being tackled down by the bluenette in his ear, pulling him close to her face.

"You're speaking with the man who's in charge of this city Natsu-san..." Wendy reminded of his rudeness but her face immediately blushed at the closeness of his face towards her. They were interrupted by a howl of laughter coming from the Valthumal ruler who was greatly clutching his stomach from his laughter at the pinkette's blunt response. Wendy and Natsu titled their heads in disbelief at Kurtis as it would seemed like he wasn't as matured as all the other rulers in Fiore.

"Hahaha... Your reputation really precedes you Salamander of Fairy Tail."

"Eh? You know me?"

"Of course, how would anyone really forget the famous Salamander who became the King of Fiore in the last five years of the Grand Magic Games in just a day?" Kurtis couldn't really hold off his laughter.

"But mages are the only ones invited there? I find it hard to believe that they would leak it to the people." Wendy interjected.

"Oh no, not like that. I was present in that Great Banguet years ago and I find it quite amusing for him to literally lighten things up though I also find it hard to believe that the dragons attacked the Capital..." Kurtis narrowed his eyes down at the floor.

"You knew about that event?" Natsu asked.

"Well of course, even though I could not participate in the defense, I was still held present with His Majesty at the palace. To be honest, I'm quite disappointed about the Royal Family's decision to build such an atrocious structure... The Eclipse Gate, a gate that can get anyone travel back in time..." Kurtis frowned as Natsu and Wendy began to sound more serious about the topic.

"...But that is not the topic we should be frowning about, I have a personal request for you guys." Kurtis' face suddenly lightened as he stood up formally before the mages.

"What personal request?" They asked in unison.

"How would like to participate in the grand ball tonight?"

* * *

 _ **Outside the hotel...(At the streets of Valthum..)...**_

A carriage is seen waiting at the entrance of the hotel as Kurtis walked out from the entrance doors with his two acquaintances behind him. The Valthum ruler looked back at them as he motioned them towards the carriage. As he looked back, he noticed Natsu suddenly fell down to the ground squirming. Wendy totally forgot about him; he was a dragonslayer with motion sickness and the carriage is his weakness.

"What's wrong with Salamander?" Kurtis asked worriedly at the dizzy pinkette who was being carried by Wendy in her arms.

"Natsu-san gets motion sick in any form of transportation..." She explained.

"Oh, then we could just walk towards the castle to lessen his burden."

"It's fine Kurtis-sama. I have something that could heal him temporarily. Let's get going."

And with that, Kurtis nodded and went inside the carriage first while patiently waiting for the two mages to come aboard. Wendy placed the fire dragonslayer at the near side of the seat as his head is slumped at the edge. The rough movements of the carriage caused Natsu to nearly vomit as he firmly holds it in with his two hands comically. Wendy and Krtis could only sweatdrop at the sight but the bluenette didn't waste any time as she placed her hands before Natsu and performed her spell.

 **"Troia Xyvilys!"** Wendy's hands suddenly glowed in magic as it circled around his head before seeping inside and work its magic on his sickness. Then in a few seconds, Natsu's contorted face suddenly disappeared and happily cheered as he finds himself able to move freely inside a transportation once again.

"Thanks Wendy!" Natsu sheepishly spoke while scratching the back of his head.

The sky dragonslayer simply nodded at him before returning back to face Kurtis about the subject at hand. Natsu slightly frowned at her actions towards him as she still continued to make less contact with him. She's still probably upset about the whole incident back at the camp. He couldn't blame anyone but himself for being ignored by her, though he felt slightly downhearted by it since she's been smiling always for him and this is his first time witnessing her being upset at him.

"So about the grand ball Kurtis-sama." Wendy begins their conversation about the request.

"Oh, yes. About that, I simply wanted you two to attend the ball tonight to catch someone." Kurtis spoke.

"Catch someone?"

"Yes. Apparently, my family is on the middle of an engagement with the Gorthold family. However, we decided to stall it due to some circumstances regarding with our successors' opinion. But in a few days after that, we've been receiving invitations from the other families who gave their consent about the engagement..." He paused before staring in open space between him and the two mages, seemingly lost in thought.

"So what's the invitations have something to do about the engagements?" Wendy asked curiously.

"... You see, only Valthumal and the Gorthold family are present in the engagement meeting. I find it quite strange for the other rich families to know the knowledge of the engagement."

"Do you mean that someone had been leaking the information?"

"I guess you can call it like that but I have already suspected someone of who might have been influencing the other families."

"Gorthold?" Wendy guessed as Kurtis nodded in response.

"The Gorthold family are famous for their forceful habit in expanding their riches throughout Fiore. They tried negotiating about a marriage with His Majesty's daughter, Hisui E. Fiore but he wisely declined the offer thus angering them in response. The Valthumals stand as the second most powerful family next to His Majesty and it would make sense that the Gortholds needed to negotiate once again."

"What does the ball have something to do in catching the suspect?"

"Simple really. Tonight's grand ball isn't just some normal event. I have announced to the city about a secret engagement regarding with my family. In truth, it's just a mock engagement to lure out the suspect and expose them right away to dissolve our ties with the Gorthold family."

"But how are we suppose to know that the suspect was really from the Gortholds?" Wendy asked while Natsu was already drooling from his sleep since he doesn't understand anything from their discussion.

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure about my suspicions towards the Gorthold family but I'm willing to take risks if it means saving my daughter's future." Kurtis firmly spoke with determination. The sky dragonslayer understood what he meant in those words and smiled contently before shaking his hands in approval.

"We'll take the job." She smiled.

"Oh, thank you Ms. Marvell."

As they have finished their acceptance of the job, the carriage finally stopped by the castle located at the center of the city. Kurtis and the two stepped out of the carriage before proceeding towards the huge gates of the castle. A couple of knights are guarding the entrance and immediately stood in attention at the sight of Kurtis coming near them.

"Welcome Kurtis-sama...And who are these two?" A guard asked as he began to keep a cautious eye on Natsu and Wendy.

"It's okay. I brought them here." Kurtis replied which prompted the guard to salute in response and lowered his guard.

"Sure! Kurtis-sama."

And with that, the guard signaled the others as they all lined up on both sides, leading them to the entrance of the castle. They suddenly unsheathed their swords and raised them diagonally in the air as Kurtis began to walk. Natsu and Wendy widen their eyes in complete surprise at the scene before them. It would seemed like that security here in Valthum is much tighter than the ones in Crocus. They really show too much protection for the Valthum ruler as their important asset. Thw two eventually followed Kurtis as they made their way towards the castle.

The doors opened as several beautiful maids were at the entrance awaiting their master. They all bowed in synchronization as Kurtis came into view.

"Welcome Back, Kurtis-sama!" They all greeted the three as they went inside the huge palace. The interiors of the castle was different from the outside as it was made in shiny floors and walls with pictures of foreign people hanging on its side. Ornaments like vase and nightstands are placed on each side and a big red carpet was seen from the entrance towards the stairs leading to other halls of the castle. A small fountain lays at the aisle of the hall with a miniature dragon statue standing at the very top, spewing water from its snout.

Natsu and Wendy felt the need to change into a bit more formal when visiting such a place. It felt so surreal for them to enter inside since they just wore their usual clothes apart from the rest of the people inside the palace.

Kurtis smiled as he saw the two mages, watching in awe around the beautiful place.

"Do you like it?" He asked.

"Like? It's heaven in here. Can I have some food in here? I'm quite hungry." Natsu sparkled in delight, hoping for any food before being pulled again in his ear by Wendy who was slightly ticking off at his rudeness.

"Natsu-san... We're inside of a palace. Please be more respectful."

"O-Okay... Wendy." Natsu whimpered before looking at his growling stomach. Meanwhile, Kurtis simply chuckled at their antics especially at the Salamander.

"Oh, it's okay. I'll help you two get used around this place since you're my guests. We may discuss more about the plan when we get there."

"Sweet! Where is the food~" Natsu hooted as he pumped his fists in the air, earning Kurtis a warm smile as he led the two towards their dining area.

Wendy simply sighed in thought as she dragged herself together with them and accept the offer. Her mind shifted towards the fire dragonslayer who was putting his arms unto Kurtis' shoulder like he was his best drinking partner. Her jaw dropped immediately upon seeing him and Kurtis like that, what's more is that the Valthumal ruler was actually talking to him casually completely apart from his formal attitude from before.

 _'Since when did they become so close?'_

The dining area was also adorned with the fancy decorations that is seen in the different corners of the place. Opulent chairs with different colors lined on both sides of a long table that reached far towards to the other end of the room. The table was full of plates and dishes that contained various kinds of food that instantly made Natsu drool from his mouth as his nose picked up all the aroma around him. Inside the dining area, there stood several chefs awaiting from the sides as the three came into view.

"Welcome Back! Kurtis-sama!" They made a slight bow as the three proceeded their way towards the table. Natsu and Wendy simply went on with their seats with the former already staring intently at one of the dishes with a thirst for hunger.

"Please, enjoy your meals. I'm always glad to make my guests very satisfied so go on, eat all you can eat." Kurtis gestured his hands over the food to which Wendy and Natsu bowed in deep respect for his generosity.

"Thank you!"

Without a moment to waste, Natsu simply dug his head through an over-sized meat and began eating from the inside. Wendy could not help but stare with wide eyes at her fellow companion as Natsu instantly ate the said meat in just mere seconds before going on to the next one.

What a very hungry dragon.

Kurtis simply ate some mild food on his part before sipping a hot tea and wipe off his mouth afterwards. He then looked over to the sky dragonslayer before speaking again.

"So, let's discuss about our plan."

Wendy glanced back to the Valthumal man as she simply took small slices of pink jelly to her mouth while keeping her attention back at him. Natsu was simply ignored as he could just listen through his heightened ears while eating, though Wendy doubt that he can listen at the same time.

"Please, proceed Kurtis-sama."

"Well as I was saying, we're about to hold a mock engagement within the ball party in order to lure the suspect out in the dark. There would be also some other families that would attend to the ball so there will be a crowd." Kurtis explained before crossing his arms in thought.

"So how do we fit in? I mean, we're attending the ball aren't we?" Wendy asked.

"Yes, you'll be attending the ball together with my daughter. Your job is to masquerade yourselves withing the ball, acting as fellow guests. I'll be also sending a few guards to scan the area if there's any problems regarding our plan on the inside..." He paused.

"... I will be also entrusting the safety of my daughter to you two when that time comes." Kurtis trailed off in thought, getting Wendy and Natsu to tilt their heads in confusion.

"Your daughter?"

"Eliwyn Valthumal. She's my daughter that was supposed to be engaged with the Gorthold family. She was also the one who spoke against the engagement. Since she refused to accept the offer, I also followed her because I didn't wish for her to comply on such useless matters. Eliwyn needs to choose for her own not by others." Kurtis slightly smiled as he began to think about his daughter.

"You seem like a very caring father." Wendy mused.

"Thank you Ms. Marvell though I wasn't enough to protect her since it has already come to this."

"Don't worry Kurtis. We'll keep her safe. I promise you." Natsu suddenly spoke, having to stop his eating streak for a moment to listen.

"Then I'll leave her into your hands Salamander, Ms. Marvell. If our suspicions are right, then it is Eliwyn they're after."

Wendy and Natsu nodded firmly as they finally finished their discussion.

Just as they were finished, the door bursts open, startling the three inside as they gave up a slight jolt of surprise from their seats and turned over to see a beautiful girl in a light blue gown. She has a long, maroon hair that reaches down to her back. A pair of long sleeve gloves are seen in her hands that reached to the ankle with a cotton colt that circled around it. She wore a pair of glass slippers that made tiny sparkles caused by the light of the room. She looked around at Kurtis before forming up a warm smile upon seeing him.

"Otou-san! You're back!"

"Oh, good to see you Eliwyn." Kurtis smiled while the two only stared at them, exchanging their greetings with each other. Eliwyn proceeded to hug her father in complete joy as Kurtis returned the embrace before giving her a pat in the head.

"My, my. You're as beautiful as your mother Eliwyn. If only she could see you now, I'm sure she'll be proud." Kurtis smiled warmly as Eliwyn let go from their hug and took a step back to let his father to take a good look of her gown.

"Thank you Otou-san. I'm sure mother is also proud of you for keeping me safe."

"Well, I'm your father. I'll always look after you."

Eliwyn could only giggle at his father before shifting her gaze towards the two mages who were only watching from the sides. Kurtis realized that he still haven't introduced the two to his daughter so he cleared his throat and faced Natsu and Wendy for the introduction.

"Natsu, Wendy. I'd like you to introduce my daughter, Eliwyn Valthumal." Kurtis gestured over to his daughter who gracefully bowed in respect at the two.

"It's nice to meet you Natsu and Wendy. I hope we get along as friends." Eliwyn smiled as Wendy flailed her arms frantically in embarrassment.

"U-Uhh... It's a pleasure to meet Eliwyn-san. I'm Wendy Marvell" The bluenette shyly greeted in response.

"Yo! I'm Natsu Dragneel." The pinkette simply waved a hand over the maroon-haired Valthumal casually.

"Nice to meet you in person Salamander of Fairy Tail. My father had told many tales about you and your reputation in Fiore." Eliwyn spoke.

"T-Thanks... I guess." Natsu let out a nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Kurtis knew they've been already sitting around for too long. It's time to get themselves for the night. He slowly stood up from his seat and went beside Eliwyn before facing the two.

"I think we should get ourselves ready for the ball. We already prepared some arrangements and all we need is to act our our plan to lure the perpetrator." Natsu and Wendy simply nodded in response with their faces filled with determination. After seeing them agreeing to the suggestion, Kurtis shook his head in response before leading the two including Eliwyn at the hall.

The four simply conversed with each other and talked a few things regarding themselves. And in just a short time, Eliwyn finally became friends with the two mages much to Kurtis' satisfaction. This is the first time he'd seen her daughter able to make friends from mages. Her only friend was Hisui who used to visit her occasionally and talked about things about the outside world. She was also the reason of how Eliwyn managed to learn about Fairy Tail.

As they walked towards the lobby, Kurtis immediately remembered one important thing to mention before the two mages.

"By the way, you're not going to attend the party in that outfit do you?" Upon asking them, the two dragonslayers could only look at each other for a moment before facing back at the Valthumal ruler.

"Umm... We really don't have anything to wear since we didn't know that the job required attending to a ball." Wendy explained.

"That's fine. I was just about to help you with that."

"How?"

"By giving you some fancy attires of course."

* * *

 _ **Nighttime... (At the Valthumal ballroom...)**_

"Is it really alright to wear something like this?" Natsu uncomfortably asked as he tugged his new outfit in different places. Apparently, he was wearing a long sleeve black attire that reaches only at his wrists with a red necktie hung on his neck. He wore a pair of black shoes and his scarf was the only thing prominent from his previous clothes.

Standing next to him was Wendy in her light-blue dress similar that of Eliwyn earlier. The Valthumal daughter simply handed out some extra gowns similar to hers since she complimented about the bluenette's hair for being beautiful and a dress of the same color would match her perfectly. Wendy didn't try to deny as she simply accepted the offer. She wore a pair of long sleeve gloves that reached only at her ankles. Her hair was tied into a pony tail that simply hang down to the back of her dress.

"We can't really refuse their offer. Plus, we need it to carry out Kurtis-san' plan." Wendy replied.

"Oh that. But still I never thought there would be a lot of people coming over to this place." Natsu remarked before shifting his eyes around the crowd in different clothes. Even though the night had just started, the room was eventually filled with lots of visitors from different families and they all look rich. It would really seemed like the engagement party was an important event, though they don't really know that it was just a hoax to lure out the suspect.

"Well you should've expected that Natsu-san. Eliwyn-san' family are very influential in other parts of Fiore."

"I don't get that part so I'll just say yes to that." Natsu said flatly.

"Really Natsu-san. You should at least know about this kind of situation." Wendy looked at him.

"Sorry, but I'm not just up for thinking things. Breaking them is more easier." Natsu answered.

"Breaking does not solve most things." Wendy deadpanned.

"Well, sorry for being not so useful." Natsu shrugged as he looked away in depression. Wendy simply looked at the fire dragonslayer with a worried expression.

She was about to apologize when the sound of horns rang from the second floor as the guards hold their trumpets high, seemingly having to announce at the guests of the ball. An announcer came into view as he began to speak at the silent crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Lady Eliwyn will be coming shortly." He spoke briefly before going back to his position as Eliwyn slowly emerged from the curtain in her maroon gown. Her hair was tied into a pony tail that simply wave down to her back. Her gown was adorned with sparkling beads that reflected tiny flickers of light towards the room. Natsu and Wendy together with the crowd were simply left to watch in awe at the magnificent woman before them.

Eliwyn simply walked towards the crowd as they made way for her and was seemingly making her way towards the two mages.

"Good evening Natsu-san, Wendy-san." Eliwyn smiled as the two simply returned the favor by also smiling in response.

"G-Good evening Eliwyn-san. You're so beautiful..." Wendy immediately let out a respectful bow.

"You too Wendy-san. The gown really suits you." Eliwyn simply smiled.

The crowd stood there dumbfounded as they witnessed Eliwyn befriending some people among them. It was actually a big change for the daughter of Valthumal since she was able to make friends so easily. Some of them simply smiled at the friendly atmosphere between them while others felt envious of the two. As the three were conversing, the lights of the room suddenly changed in color as a soft music began to play at the ballroom, indicating the start of the ball dance. The guests simply looked for their partners as they began to make their way to the floor and slowly danced along with the slow rhythm of the music.

Eliwyn and the two dragonslayers simply stood there, staring with each other as the music played on.

"First time in a ball?" She asked upon seeing Natsu keep glancing around with an unsure look on his face.

"Well. I guess so. I'm not that good with dancing." The fire dragonslayer simply scratched his head in shame.

"Well then, will you be my partner for the dance? Natsu Dragneel?" Eliwyn smiled before reaching her hand before him, indicating her offer. As this was going on, Wendy's heart suddenly felt heavy for some reason as she watched her asking the pinkette for a dance.

Meanwhile, Natsu simply hesitated for a moment as he glanced around Wendy with a worried expression. The sky dragonslayer simply looked at the sides to avoid his contact and just held her hands in front of her. Natsu sighed inwardly as he still thinks that she's still upset to him. He personally wanted to invite her for a dance but her actions are preventing him to ask her out. He looked back at the maroon-haired girl with a toothy grin.

"Sure. I don't mind..." Natsu spoke casually as he freely took her offer and let her drag him towards the center of the ballroom and began to dance slowly with the other guests.

Wendy widen her eyes as she glanced around once again, looking at Natsu before feeling completely crestfallen. She just stood there, watching him dance with Eliwyn in his usual toothy grin that she often wants to see whenever he's around her.

 _'... ...Natsu... ...'_

Why? Why does it have to be so hard? She inwardly cursed herself for being so weak to stand up for her feelings. Charle believed in her and even gave her a chance to let him know that she also feels the same way as the other girl who cared for him. She said to have some confidence but she only made it worse. She just simply wanted him to notice her more and look at her in a different perspective.

She doesn't want to stay friends with him, she wanted more. Something that goes beyond that boundary but she was also afraid of breaking their friendship.

But with their current situation, she felt guilty for shunning him away over such an useless matter.

Unknowingly, she slowly teared up tiny droplets from her eyes and she just simply wiped them away and ran from the other direction. And at the same time, Natsu saw her tears as he saw her disappear from crowd.

He definitely saw it.

"Something wrong Natsu-san?" Eliwyn asked upon seeing his troubled face.

"U-Uh... It's nothing. Do you think this plan will really work?" He asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure about Otou-san' plan either. But the only thing we need to do is to believe in him."

"That's right. Everything he'd done so far was all for your sake Eliwyn." Natsu smiled.

"Thank you."

The two didn't talk after that as they simply danced away along with the slow music with the lights slowly changing into different colors with each passing minute. The soft and uplifting rhythm of the song resounded to the room as the people continued to dance with their chosen partners. It was then Eliwyn spoke again.

"Are you and Wendy close?" She asked curiously making Natsu to turn around in a slightly surprised expression.

"W-Well yeah but-" He was cut off before being interrupted by the maroon-haired girl.

"You two aren't in good terms for some quite time. Am I right?" She finished.

"How did you know?" Natsu asked, feeling not really shocked all about it. Instead he wore a very sad expression about their situation right now.

"I'm quite a good observer when it comes to the matter of my friends."

"We only just met though." Natsu deadpanned.

"Silly you... You don't want to be friends with me?" She asked worriedly.

"Eh? Why wouldn't I be friends with you? Everyone is very precious to me even though I met them only in a short time." Upon saying that Eliwyn slightly blushed at his words and could only look away from the sides.

"S-Saying things like that is very unlikely of you Salamander." She huffed.

"Why?"

"You're destructive, fiery and crazy from what my father told you."

"Hey!" Natsu slightly raised his voice in annoyance of her insult. Eliwyn simply giggled at his actions before leaning close to his ear seemingly to whisper something at him.

"Go to her...You wouldn't want to keep a lady waiting do you?" She whispered, getting Natsu to widen his eyes in surprise at her suggestion.

"B-But-" He was cut off as Eliwyn placed a finger near his mouth to stop speaking.

"Don't worry about me. Talk to her, I'm sure she's not really mad at you. Wouldn't it better if you go after her and comfort her at this time? You two came together in this job from Otou-san so you should be with her till the end." She smiled.

"Eliwyn..." His words trailed off in thought.

"Oh my... Saying my name all of a sudden. If I'm not careful, I might just fall for you eventually." Eliwyn teased, getting Natsu to tilt his head in confusion.

"I don't know what you mean..." He said flatly.

"Anyway, you need to go now. Wendy is waiting." She spoke warmly to which Natsu nodded in response and broke away from their dance.

"I'm sorry Eliwyn..." He bowed.

"No harm intended. I just wanted to help you two make up. Go on Natsu, she's waiting for you."

"Thanks Eliwyn." He grinned before running off towards where the bluenette had gone off to. Eliwyn simply stood there, smiling contently at Natsu as she began to return back to the stairs to prepare for the plan. She doesn't need them protecting them. She only wanted to fix their relationship first before her since she considers them as precious friends.

 _'I hope you two can finally make up with each other... Natsu, Wendy.'_

* * *

Wendy had found herself standing outside a wide balcony. She broke away from the crowd and simply wanted to clear her head for the time being. She isn't up for any parties tonight. The moon shone brightly above her as she simply leaned her arms to the platform and looked up to the night sky in wonder. There are still some tears present in her eyes which she simply wiped it off with her hand to maintain her composure.

 _'Natsu-san...'_

Her thoughts shout out the name of the fire dragonslayer inside her head before feeling an uncontrollable beating of her heart just from that thought alone. To her, his name varies different meanings that she deeply treasured inside her heart. The one who showed her the ways in protecting her comrades and family, the hope that never lost its way from depths of despair and the smile that instantly melted her heart just from seeing it from her eyes.

Ever since then, she looked up to him as an idol but as years past she was starting to see him in a different perspective. It wasn't a brotherly love she felt for him that time. It was love. She longed for his attention every time he looks away and she could only glance at him in wonder, hoping that in a moment, he will face her with a lovely toothy grin.

But with things going around now, she really can't face him like this.

Another set of tears are trying to make its way outside her eyes as she instinctively wiped it off once again.

"Wendy?" A familiar voice sounded through ears, prompting her to look around only to see Natsu before her.

"Natsu?"

"What are you doing out here?" He asked only to get her to look away to wipe off her tears then facing back to him with a mild expression.

"N-Nothing... I'm just getting some fresh air."

"Oh, then wanna come back with me to the room?"

"N-No it's fine really Natsu-san. Please enjoy your dance with Eliwyn-san. I'll just keep a look out if there's anything suspicious on the party." She insisted only to have her left arm to be grabbed by the fire dragonslayer firmly with a worried expression.

"I knew it... There's something wrong with you Wendy... Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"E-Eh? There's nothing wrong Natsu-" She was cut off as the fire dragonslayer began to speak again.

"Then why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not ignoring you Natsu-san. I just-" Wendy stopped, unable to come up with an excuse to the pinkette. Unaware for her, tears are starting to flow out from her eyes getting him to widen in surprise.

"Wendy... Why are you crying?"

"Eh? This is... ..." She stuttered before touching her cheek as the tears flowed down before dropping to the ground.

Natsu closed his eyes and shook his head before reaching out his hand to wipe off the tears from her eyes. He simply smiled as he began to look at her solemnly.

"Now look at you. You're crying for no reason..." He spoke before reaching out and hugged her softly.

"...It's okay. I'm here...Just don't cry now okay? You're the most adorable girl I've ever met and seeing you cry kinda makes me feel bad for myself." Natsu smiled.

"...N-Natsu... I-"

Just as Wendy was about to speak, a sudden explosion erupted from the room, prompting them to turn around in caution as they break away from their hug. People from the inside came shouting in panic at the explosion as some were already running around to escape the commotion. Immediately, their minds suddenly went back focusing on one person.

"Eliwyn!"

"Eliwyn-san!"

Without any moment to waste, they both rushed in as the smoke kicked up from the inside, obscuring their vision.

"Wendy!" Natsu signaled, getting the sky dragonslayer to nod in response of the plan. She momentarily moved her hands in a circular fashion before glowing magic.

 **"Sky Dragon's Cyclone Wave!"** The bluenette shouted briefly as a massive torrent of wind appeared, surrounding the sky dragonslayer as it moves in an upward position and carried the smokescreen along with it, instantly giving the vision back of the area.

Their eyes looked over Eliwyn as she was being held by a white-haired man wearing a black tuxedo. His eyes were dark green which is quite uncommon of a combination to his white hair. He wore a pair of black shoes and an unusual insignia is seen strapped at the center of his collar. Currently, he held Eliwyn in her hands to prevent her from escaping. A couple of guards stood surrounding the man with pointed magical weapons.

"Eliwyn!" Natsu shouted in worry over the girl who was held hostage.

"Make one more step and I'll kill her with this." The man growled ass he pointed a magic gun on his hand, pointed at Eliwyn's head.

"You wouldn't dare! Give back Lady Eliwyn you bastard!" A couple of guards shouted in rage of such an underhanded tactic.

"You bastard!" Natsu growled but Wendy reached out a reassuring pat to his shoulders to calm him down.

"Natsu-san. Calm down, we can't afford to lose our heads in this. We need to think carefully." Natsu gritted his teeth but complied nonetheless much to her relief. Wendy smiled before looking back at the man and began to ask questions.

"Who are you?"

"I don't give my name to a lowlife." He scoffed at the bluenette but she kept her cool, though Natsu felt his teeth sinking in anger for insulting his friend.

"His name is Garrith Gorthold. Son of the head of the Gorthold family." A guard beside them explained.

"That's quite a giveaway." Garrith deadpanned.

"What do you want Garrith? I told you I'm not marrying you. Do you think that your actions will go unnoticed by father? If he knows that you're behind this-" Eliwyn was cut off when he interrupted her.

"Oh, I already thought about that... That's why I'm doing this to make it easier. I'm gonna make the engagement go as planned even if I have to use force." He chuckled evilly.

"HEY! DUMBASS!" Natsu fiercely shouted, catching Garrith's attention who looked at him in disgust.

"What did you say?"

"Natsu-san! Help me!" Eliwyn called out.

"Natsu? Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail? How come you are here in Valthum?" Garrith demanded.

"We're here to protect Eliwyn..." He bluntly replied only to have Garrith to narrow his eyes towards the pinkette.

"So... Kurtis bothered to send mages to protect his little daughter. How touching..." He paused before looking at the mages.

"...Well I guess I should have someone to fight you Salamander." He snapped his fingers before a powerful gust of wind made its way above them, prompting them to dodge out of the way.

"Watch out!" Wendy tried warn the other guards who happened to be near in the vicinity but they weren't given the time to react as the wind blasted to the ground, sending a powerful gale of wind that blew back everything. Natsu and Wendy regained their footing except for the guards who were instantly knocked out from the attack. However, their eyes faced back to the smoke before dissipating from the impact of the wind.

Their eyes widen in shock as they recognized the figure infront of them.

The figure was a lean muscular man wearing a black cloak. The mask in his face was preventing them to reveal his identity as Natsu and Wendy began to turn into their own battle stances.

"Your orders Garrith-sama..." His voice was gruff as he spoke.

"Get rid of the Salamander..."

The cloaked figure simply nodded before looking back at the dragonslayer without any slight movements from his body. Then in an instant he took a dashing move and went straight towards the two, specifically at Natsu in blinding speeds, shocking the two in the process. The fire dragonslayer wasn't given the time to react as the cloaked figure's hand instantly slammed from his face, sending him away from the room and into the balcony with the force of the wind swirling from his hand.

"Natsu-san!" Wendy shouted out in worry.

"Don't worry about me! I'll beat up this guy in a moment. Go save Eliwyn." Natsu shouted briefly as he went back to face the cloaked figure who followed him outside and began their battle, leaving Wendy and Garrith alone in the ruined ballroom.

"Well I guess that leaves you and me... Are you a friend of the Salamander?" Garrith inquired but Wendy simply ignored him and began to flare up in her own magic to face him.

"I hate to see myself fighting off a beautiful girl you know but I guess I don't have any choice..." The white-haired man simply summoned a magic prison that had appeared before Eliwyn, thereby trapping her in the process.

"Show some gratitude since I didn't resort to hostage taking when fighting with you."

"You're despicable..." Wendy snarled.

"You're gonna regret this girl."

Both two are ready with their battle stances as their eyes never left each other, full of determination. Wendy had begun her first move as she charged up her own roar by sucking up air around her. Garrith slightly widen his eyes in surprise at the girl's magic.

 **"Sky Dragon's Roar!"** Wendy didn't waste any time as she simply let out a roar of raging winds from her mouth that simply went straight towards him in a fast speed. Garrith simply evaded the roar as it missed its mark before slamming into a wall, giving off a little tremble in the room to show how much devastating it is.

 **"Diamond Make: Piercing Arrows!"** Garrith clasped his hands as it glowed in green-blue color before releasing a barrage of deadly diamond arrows that went straight towards the sky dragonslayer who slightly widen her eyes in shock of the foreign magic before her.

 _'Diamond Make? Similar that of Gray-san' magic?'_

She doesn't need to think all about it as she spun her arms in a circular fashion.

 **"Sky Dragon's Cyclone Wave!"** Wendy summoned another torrent of wind around her, blowing away the diamond arrows away from her. She took a leap in the air before expelling a whirlwind of air from her arms, both pointed at Garrith.

 **"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!"**

Torrents of air flashed from her arms and went straight towards the white-haired man who simply smirked at the attack coming infront of him.

"You should know your place mage..." He growled menacingly before clasping his hands together as he glowed in his respective magic color. Then in a second, Garrith pointed his hands upward as the spell is summoned before him.

 **"Diamond Make: Crystallize!"** A series of jagged diamond spikes erupted from his hands and headed straight towards the sky dragonslayer in fast speeds. Wendy was still in mid-air and couldn't evade the attack in time as she could only close her eyes from the spikes coming to impale her.

"Wendy!" Eliwyn shouted in disbelief as she helplessly watched the bluenette about to get stabbed from the diamond spikes in front of her.

Just as she was about to get stabbed, Natsu came crashing from the window and perfectly, pulled Wendy away from the attack in the nick of time. Natsu held Wendy in his arms before landing back to the ground, creating a small crash that kicked up dust upon contact. Garrith widen his eyes in disbelief as the dust settled revealing an slightly injured Natsu emerging from the wreckage with Wendy wrapped around his arms to protect her.

"W-What the? How did you come here so fast?"

"Huh? Isn't it not fair for me to show up and help Wendy after defeating my enemy?" Natsu tilted his head in confusion only to get Garrith to be more dumbstruck at his statement. Even Wendy floored after hearing that he already defeated the enemy in just a short time.

That's Natsu for you.

"Y-You mean that you already defeated my strongest bodyguard?"

"Well I was so pissed when he 'slapped' me so I had to return the favor..." He reasoned before flaring up in flames with lightning sparks around him. Garrith simply gritted his teeth before his face became shadowed and completely consumed in anger.

"Don't be act so high above me you scum!" He shouted in frustration before clasping his hands once again to perform his magic.

 **"Diamond Make: Crystal Rage!"** Garrith let out a wave of diamond shards that headed its way towards the two dragonslayers. However, Natsu simply stood there with his face shadowed in rage.

"Natsu?" Wendy asked worriedly but she was left standing there when Natsu immediately called forth his power and simply backhanded the wave with his lightning enhanced flames, dispelling it entirely with ease, shocking Garrith and Wendy at the display of power.

"I-Impossible..." He stuttered before cowering after seeing an intimidating glare from pinkette.

"You wanna know why I'm so pissed..." He spoke blankly at the white-haired mage. He didn't answer but Natsu continued right away.

"...It's because your magic reminded me of that stripper."

Then in an instant, the tense atmosphere suddenly disappeared, replacing it with blank one as silence immediately filled the entire room. Wendy's face paled from that unreasonable statement.

 _'Even in times like these...When are you going to change Natsu-san?!'_

"I don't what you're talking about but you're really pissing me off. DIE!" Garrith once again shouted in frustration as he let out another wave of diamond shards coming towards them in full speed.

 **"Lightning Flame Dragon's Energy Burst!"** Natsu briefly shouted as he stretched his arms wide as a powerful surge of flames and lightning flashed outside his body and immediately blinded the whole room. After the huge burst of energy of lightning and flames, the room was left in a smoking ruins, leaving Natsu, Wendy, Eliwyn and a slightly injured Garrith inside.

The white-haired man encased himself in a large diamond monolith to protect himself from the devastating attack. The cage that imprisoned Eliwyn eventually melted from the attack, granting her freedom.

"Damn you!" Garrith gritted in anger as he began to use his magic once again.

"Wendy now!" Natsu signaled as the bluenette dashed above him with the help of the air around her. She neared Garrith within seconds before summoning forth her final spell.

Spreading out her arms wide, she began to call forth of one of her spells as she spun them on a counter-clockwise fashion.

 **"Dragon Slayer Secret Art, Shattering Light: Sky Drill!"** Wendy shouted as the winds formed into a raging wind barrier that trapped Garrith in the middle before contracting it to damage the enemy inside. The intense force of the air inside the barrier caused Garrith to scream in pain after being slammed on both direction as the winds contracted further before dispelling, sending him flying high above the air and eventually crashed to the ground completely unconscious.

Natsu smirked as he saw her finally defeating the enemy.

"Good job Wen-" He wasn't given the time to finish as he simply fell down to the ground, getting Eliwyn and Wendy to run over to him.

"Natsu!"

The fire dragonslayer could only make out a peace sign on his finger before fainting from exhaustion. Wendy and Eliwyn panicked at the scene before the former began using her magic to heal Natsu. It's an end of the battle already as the reinforcement of guards came into the scene and locked their weapons on the injured suspect. The plan was a success. Wendy could only look around at the damage they had just caused.

There really isn't a day where they don't actually wreck something on a high scale.

* * *

 ** _The next day... (Inside Valthumal Castle...)_**

It was already noon and the two dragonslayers were already standing near the lobby facing the Valthumals. Natsu had some small bandages strapped unto his cheeks and forehead from the intense battle last night. Wendy on the other hand, suffered only minor scratches and bruises which are almost healed in just a day. Kurtis is seen standing next to them with a large bag of jewels in his hands before handing it to Natsu.

"Thank you for your help last night. Salamander, Ms. Marvell."

"It's nothing really, though we kinda destroyed your ballroom." Wendy slightly frowned.

"Well, it can't be avoided since it turned out to be a mage fight. We were completely surprised that time. Our guards can't do anything but watch."

"No worries, We took great care of them in the end." Natsu butted in before wearing a wide toothy grin towards them.

"As promised of the reward. Here you go Salamander. That's for saving my daughter last night."

Natsu looked over the bag of jewels and eventually kept it on his luggage before looking back at the Valthumal ruler.

"Thanks... We're glad to be of any help for you guys." He grinned.

"You two did more than that. Finally, we can show evidence against the Gorthold to stay away from us anymore. I'm sure His Majesty would be also delighted at your work. Princess Hisui wanted you to show her gratitude for protecting Eliwyn." Kurtis handed out some few gold bars to the two much to Wendy's shock. Getting jewels as a reward was one thing but being rewarded by gold, that's something more of a

Meanwhile, Natsu gaped at the gold bars he was holding.

"Woah! What are these? Are they edible?"

Eliwyn giggled at his answer before remembering something.

"Oh by the way, Can I talk to you Wendy in private?" She asked, getting the sky dragonslayer teen to point herself for confirmation. Eliwyn nodded as she reached out a hand and dragged the bluenette before she could even speak, leaving the two males behind.

"They sure do get along..." Kurtis smiled.

"Well, I'm glad..."

Eliwyn continued to drag Wendy along by her hand as they went a few feet away from the two before stopping into a corner.

"Umm... What do you want to ask about Eliwyn-san?" Wendy asked curiously.

The maroon-haired girl simply turned around and faced the sky dragonslayer with a teasing smirk plastered on her face.

"So how did it go with Natsu-san?"

Upon mentioning his name, Wendy's face suddenly flushed as her cheeks suddenly shaded itself in red color, getting her to look away in embarrassment from her topic. What's more, how did Eliwyn manage to know about their relationship?

"W-W-What you are you saying Eliwyn-san?" She frantically flailed her arms in panic to deny her question.

"Aww... You don't have to be shy about it Wendy-san... I saw what happened at the ball last night."

"You saw what?"

"You were crying... And you simply wanted his attention at that time. You're so bold Wendy-chan~" She teased getting Wendy increase her temperature once more from her statement.

"W-Wendy-chan?" She stuttered after being called like that.

"Have confidence Wendy-chan..." She solemnly spoke.

"Eh?"

"I know you love him..." She teasingly spoke, getting her again on the blushing side and tried denying it.

"W-W-What you are you saying? We're not like that-" She was cut as Eliwyn butted in another statement.

"Don't try to deny it Wendy... Be honest with yourself okay?"

"I...I..." She can't seem to find anything to answer to her question but Eliwyn smiled nonetheless.

"What happens right now between you and Natsu rests on your decision. Talk to him once again. I'm sure he wanted too." She smiled.

"But why are you helping me?" Wendy asked curiously.

"Because I don't want you regretting it Wendy..." She softly replied before holding both of her arms before them.

"...It's better than losing it in the end right?"

Wendy didn't spoke but only felt more uneasy. Everything of what she just said was true. She's been this far with the help of Charle and hers as well. She looked back at Eliwyn as her face suddenly turned into a determined look.

"Thank you Eliwyn-san."

Eliwyn simply smiled before leading her back to the two males who were waiting for them at the lobby. they began to talk more about each other and about how their job actually played out in the end. They laughed with each other as Wendy finally opens up to Natsu once again much to the latter's joy. Eliwyn and Kurtis simply smiled at the sight. Their time together wasn't that long though, as the day finally went to the afternoon with Natsu and Wendy finally began their journey back before waving back to the two figures standing at the castle doors.

"Bye Wendy-san. Good luck!" Eliwyn shouted happily as Wendy heard her voice.

"Be safe! Eliwyn-san, Kurtis-san."

"Don't forget to stop by once in awhile okay?"

"Okay!"

And with that, the two finally resumed their journey back to Fairy Tail with wendy having a very bright smile plastered on her face to which Natsu had just noticed as he walked beside her.

"Well, aren't you a little but happier than usual..." He remarked.

"Really? Maybe it's because we manage to get our job done..." She smiled warmly back at him.

"I-Is that so? Good for you Wendy.."

"Thank you!"

"So umm. About the accident-" He was about to apologize when Wendy interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it... I'm really don't mind it after all. And I'm so sorry for avoiding you all this time..." She shyly apologized while having a flustered face towards the pinkette.

"So you're really avoiding me all this time..." Natsu guessed, getting the bluenette to meekly nod in response. However, he smiled and proceeded to hug her briefly, shocking her in the process. And at that time, she felt his warm embrace once again. The warmth she wanted for so long.

"Natsu-san?"

"Thank you Wendy and I'm sorry too." He solemn spoke before letting go but Wendy could only chuckle at him.

"What are you sorry for?"

"Well, I just need to say that too. At least we're even." He smiled.

"Okay then... If you say so Natsu-san." Wendy giggled.

"Let's go back. To Fairy Tail!" He cheered as he pumped his fist in the air with Wendy following him in response. They walked a few more minutes just at the road when Wendy suddenly noticed something.

"Umm... Natsu-san, what's that on your face?" She asked curiously as Natsu suddenly stopped and began to check his face.

"What's on my fac-" He was cut short when Wendy suddenly leaned on towards his face and softly kissed his cheek, shocking Natsu in the process. She had her arms around her back and her cheeks were blushing madly as it normally would. It lasted only for a moment as Wendy let go of her kiss as the pinkette was left dumbfounded at her actions.

"W-Wendy! W-what was that just now?" He asked in complete utter shock as Wendy began to take pace ahead of him with a warm and cute smile that radiated back at the shocked fire mage.

"Let's go Natsu... Back to Fairy Tail..."

* * *

 **A/N: And done guys. NaWen arc is done but of course they would come back after a full circle of the harem :D**

 **Wendy is officially in the harem together with Erza, Mira and Sara too even though she's not yet having an arc for herself. Speaking of her arc, I just decided to move hers after the second major arc that is actually coming shortly in a few more chapters so look forward to it. And quite sorry for others expecting Sara's arc to be the next. I'll have to put the second major arc first before letting the whole circle rotate again for the girls ^^**

 **And sorry for updating a bit too late in my part. Caught a cold and can't even do anything about it so I'm stuck at resting. I was able to finish it this day so I'm quite relieved.**

 **And as for the OC character, Eliwyn Valthumal. Originally, I planned her to come along with the harem but I just recently decided against it since it was probably too much OCs to handle for Natsu, not to mention to other girls who were present in his harem. So sorry for anyone who wanted her in the harem but she'll be acting as a minor character throughout the story. If I had the time, I could make a snippet regarding her own route with Natsu on the new poll that will posted after the second major arc.**

 **Anyways, did you like the chapter? Leave a review :)  
Like the story so far? Leave a fav or even follow it to keep yourselves updates. These both serves as motivation to write more even in this state.**

 **See ya guys on the next chapter :)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


	15. Comfort Within His Embrace

**A/N: Hey guys. wiErD here... We're only doing a one chapter for Sara since I won't be just rushing her relationship with Natsu that fast since they need more other chapters to get to know each other and eventually fall into the same relationship as the other girls.**

 **So sorry for this. Natsu x Sara arc will be moved after the second major arc that will be posted in the near future. This is just a development chapter for my OC and Natsu. This is also the reason to make sure Sara isn't left out as she was the first OC character introduced in the story. But then again, she is just _one_ of the main female protagonist in this story. **

**And also my conditions are not as good as I thought. I can't really move since it was very tiring to do so. That's why my updates have been lagging behind lately because of it. But I'll try my best to update it in the right time.**

 **That's all for now and we're off to a development chapter for Sara and Natsu.**

 **Have fun and Happy Reading... ^^**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters... Just my OCs.**

* * *

 **\- Comfort Within His Embrace -**

The usual days within Fairy Tail were still going on as the infamous brawl started once again involving a certain pinkette who finds himself in the middle of it. Other members sat at the sidelines entertaining themselves at the guild brawl as they sip into their mugs and threw out shouts and cheers on their respective favorite members. You could say that they were betting on the participants like some sort of a game and the ones in the fight didn't bother them at all. Team Natsu in exception of Gray and the pinkette simply sat on one of the tables watching the whole fight unfold before them.

Erza however, was sitting on a bar counter with Mirajane and didn't even bother to quell the fight apart from which she usually does. Lucy and the others could only think of how much she had changed. But with her finally, tolerating the guild fights around the guild, it would bring more catastrophic events inside the guild since no one will be able to stop all of it.

But of course, she's not just the only one who's changed. Mirajane had been more lively that she's ever been in the past few days. She would always come over to their table to talk and converse about each other. What's more, she acts very different than she was before them when Natsu is around. She would always try to get close to him every time she had the chance, though it always led to the spark of their rivalry between her and Erza who was keeping an eye on the pinkette from the demon barmaid.

She doesn't want the Take-Over mage to be near around him since it gave her a creepy feeling or probably just a hint of extreme jealousy towards her. Mirajane would sometimes say unnecessary things that even fueled their fight because of it. Needless to say, it's becoming more of a fact of life inside their guild.

Master could only cry helplessly as the two female mages ravaged the entire guild in just a day whenever they found themselves under an argument. And at the same time of these past few days, he missed the comfort of his jewels.

"Are you alright Sara?" Lucy asked worriedly as she saw the blonde dragonslayer slumped into her seat with her head resting on top of her crossed arms at the table.

"I'm fine..." She gave a weak but reassuring voice to the celestial mage before returning back to rest her head.

"I don't think you're alright... Do you need some help?" She offered but Sara sat up straight and gave off a small smile to reassure her.

"It's alright Lucy-san... I guess I'm just tired.."

"Okay then. But if you want some help just tell me okay?"

"Thank you Lucy-san..." She smiled once again.

"Is Sara okay?" Wendy's voice popped in with the conversation between them, prompting them to turn around and looked at the bluenette.

"I-I'm okay Wendy... Just a bit tired from the job earlier." She reasoned since they just took out a small bandit camp in the mountains just a few hours ago. She did her part in taking out some of them, though most of them were unfortunate to Natsu's heating flames that left them burnt and scorched in all parts of their body.

"Yep, it was really tiring, though Natsu mostly did the beating rather than us..." She giggled, getting the two girls to look at her in surprise. Of course, they were slightly disturbed because of her reaction earlier. Did she just giggle at Natsu's antics? Normally, Wendy would only remark of his destructive nature but what she had just did was completely unusual for them. And what's more, she just called the dragonslayer by his name only.

"Uh... Wendy, are you alright?" Lucy tried to ask the bluenette.

"What do you mean?" She replied innocently at the celestial mage.

"W-Well, it's just that you said his name so casually."

"Eh? Is it wrong to call him by his name?" Lucy could only sweatdrop at her reply.

"N-Nevermind..." She dismissed the conversation as Wendy simply tilted her head in confusion.

...

 **CRASH***

...

Another loud and startling sound erupted from the fight as the whole guild turned over to the source, seeing Natsu in a heated glare with Gajeel. Everyone already knew where this is going. They probably guessed that maybe Natsu simply punched the iron dragonslayer or maybe Gajeel was pissed whenever the pinkette's around. Whatever the case, they just battling it out over some senseless reason.

"Bastard! That hurt!" Natsu snarled.

"You started it!" Gajeel growled.

"I did not... Stop accusing people Iron-freak!"

"What did you just say Salamander?"

"You wanna go?"

"Why you-"

Familiar insults filled the room as Natsu and Gajeel have engaged into another wrestle. Erza and Mira could only smile in satisfaction at the sight, though quite unusual for the former as she was perfectly relaxed about the whole fight ensuing before her. Mira on the other hand, wasn't that much surprised since she already cheered for Natsu in his fights in secret. But after recognizing her feelings to him, she was able to do anything freely with him.

If by anything, she would mean about her flirty acts to advance their relationship into a new whole level where she could finally do more than just a kiss and words. Sadly, she wasn't able to use them efficiently with Erza running around, thereby ruining her chances with Natsu. In addition to that, the fire dragonslayer had been more vigilant around them. If she had to guess, he must be trying to keep himself alert around them since they've been giving him intimate kisses. It would be a matter of time before one of them planted one in his lips.

Now that would be romantic...

Well it can't be avoided since she really had fallen for him. It's his fault for being so charming towards her. Not to mention, he'd attracted a few girls already which she finds it quite bothersome on her part.

Speaking of girls, she took a mindful thinking about the bluenette who was watching amusingly at the fight, wearing an innocent yet affectionate smile on the pinkette specifically.

"So Wendy has also joined the fight huh?" Mirajane muttered lazily as her thoughts trailed off. Her words didn't go unheard though as Erza simply glanced at the bar maid, taking her gaze off from her strawberry cake briefly to listen.

"What do you mean Mirajane?" She asked curiously.

"U-Uh... Nothing. It's just that I find it quite surprising for her to feel the same way about Natsu..."

Erza stopped momentarily before looking at the bluenette too with anticipation in her eyes. She could only smile at the thought before looking back at Mirajane who was cleaning up some mugs from the bar counter.

"Well, I guess we should've expected it considering the fact that they're both dragonslayers and they share something common that we don't have." However, Mirajane could only put up a cute pout at the scarlet knight's statement.

"Muuoo! But that kinda makes me envious of her. I can't help it!" She frantically flailed her arms in complete jealousy over the bluenette which caused Erza to shoot a light glare over the silly barmaid.

"I hope you're not doing anything to Natsu this time..."

"Hoh, and what would you do if I did?" Mirajane smirked before letting out a seductive smirk forming from her lips that gave the redhead a couple of tick marks on her forehead. The fork she was using on her cake was easily bent from her tightening grip due to irritation at the devious barmaid who wasn't fazed anything at all.

"I will use everything in my power to prevent you from corrupting him..." Erza spoke with finality but the demon barmaid knew better behind those words.

"That's pretty cheap Erza-san... Of course, I won't allow that." She gently smiled with a seductive tone that made Erza boil in anger.

"And why?" She demanded.

Mirajane placed her index finger just below her chin and began to shift her eyes away as she pondered in thought. It was only brief as she went back to her gaze and simply smiled again to which Erza finds it annoying as hell. She would rather witness the pinkette's smile before her and in that way, she could finally doze off to sleep in her dreams, thinking about him solely.

Well if by her dreams, she probably mean every kind of embarrassing situations involving her and the pinkette that would later result to obscene acts that would instantly melt anyone's mind if shown to them. And of course, everyone knew where she all found it: Smut Novels.

And no... No one was able to see through her mind like that. And if they do, they probably died already.

"Well that would mean that you're claiming him all to yourself..." She reasoned as the redhead disrupted her focus on the barmaid before replacing her face with a matching red color similar that of her hair.

"W-What are you saying?! I'm not c-claiming him or anything like that." She agitated from her statement and began denying her claim continuously with muttered words ignored by the white-haired barmaid.

"Okay... Then I'll claim him for myself instead."

Just moments of saying that to her, Mira had already found herself threatened with a pointed sword on her as Erza suddenly went hostile against her with sparkling eyes which are not in delight but in anger as she tried her best to intimidate the calm barmaid.

"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?"

As for Mira, she simply gave off a peaceful smile at the seething redhead.

"Ara, ara... You seemed pretty stressed Erza-san. Do you want some strawberry cake?" She gently offered another plate of the scarlet knight's favorite cake in it which somehow magically appeared out of thin air that shouldn't be worth prying upon.

Erza's eyes immediately turned bright as she saw her favorite cake before her. Her hostility instantly disappeared and her threat against Mira was left forgotten. Little did she knows that the barmaid already had her fooled once she presented her favorite cake.

"Oh! Don't mind if I do... This is so-TEH! WHAT AM I TO YOU?" Erza realized a little too late of Mira's plan as she glared back at the still smiling barmaid after managing herself to keep her eyes off the strawberry cake for the first time.

"Tch, she realized it..." Mirajane clucked her tongue and bit her lip in disappointment.

"WHAT ARE YOU ROLLING YOUR TONGUE FOR?!"

And with that, Erza and Mira are already butting their heads once again, prompting a start of another one-sided destruction of the entire guild, not its members. Their auras became imminent as the ones in the fight simultaneously stopped connecting their fists against each other and instantly paled at the suffocating auras those two were emitting. Everyone definitely knew what will happen if they stayed much longer.

And in an instant, everyone dashed away from the fight and returned to their seats since the next battle between Titania and the Demon ensues.

They both cleared away from the guild floors and sat back to their tables as far from them.

"Oh shit! They're at it again..."

"It's interesting to watch those two fight again..."

"I'd rather you shut up or die..."

"Come on, put on your glasses guys. This will be a blast!"

And in that moment, everyone began wearing shady glasses with some bringing out popcorn from their seats that came out of nowhere and steadily relaxed at the sight before them. Lucy jawdropped as she knew what they actually meant on clearing away from the scene.

 _'They're treating it as some sort of a movie! ! !'_

The celestial mage even widen her eyes like huge white saucers as she managed to see a glimpse of their Master, watching among the crowd with the glasses and all of that.

 _'EVEN THE MASTER TOO?!'_

She thought in disbelief as she saw Erza and Mira finally made their way towards center with both eyes never leaving each other's gazes. Wendy simply watched the whole scene unfold, seemingly calm despite the situation. Days in Fairy Tail couldn't get any more worse.

She wanted to say something but the mood around her, prevents her from doing so as the whole guild began to watch in anticipation. More likely they get to watch a free movie which is kinda cool. What's more amazing is that it has realistic effects and anyone who would be unlucky enough to get blown away by magic would rate it perfectly as one of the best movies.

Lucy is on the losing side... She might be one of the-NO... She might be the only one who still haven't lost her sanity inside this building.

She could probably traced it back since the time she just joined the guild. Well, it didn't do well for her until she got used to it, though not in this case.

It was total insanity all around her.

"Ready to lose Red?!" Mirajane taunted the glaring redhead who simply gave off a confident smirk.

"Hmph. You're not even worth my time..."

"Well let me prove it to you after I pummel you straight to the ground.."

"I won't lose to you Demon!"

"Me either!"

The two female S-Class mages finally finished their last rant against each other before glowing in magic.

 **"Requip: Black Wing Armor!"**

 **"Take-Over: Satan Soul!"**

And with that, the battle begins...Everyone finally let out an amount of cheers from the sidelines as their anticipated battle began with huge shockwave that blew other people away with their popcorn. They've been warned to stay far away though, but they experienced the greatness of realistic effects from their self-described movie.

And they loved it.

The two female mages disappeared into a silver blur as they engaged themselves in an aerial battle that went into impossible speeds that only left a trail of shockwaves that blew back their hairs and at the same time gave them the chills. But it didn't matter, the more thrills, the more fun they could watch. What could go wrong?

"Hiiiiiieeeee!" Lucy shrieked in fright of the two monster females created another shockwave near their vicinity. She had to hold unto her seat as the intense force threaten to hurl her away. Wendy and Sara simply sat there as the table and their seats managed to withstand the wave with their respective hairs blown sideways. Sara didn't even moved an inch from her resting position as gale went past her.

Lucy had to wonder though. How were they able to withstand their footing while hers did the complete opposite? That's completely impossible! Considering her weight than the slender bluenette sitting beside her. She should've been blown away too. Well, not that she wanted her to.

Man, physics is sure wrecked in this building too.

Her eyes searched over a pinkette who's been out from her sights for quite some time ever since the whole fight dissipated for the next one. It didn't take long for her to search him as she found him sitting at a nearby table with the same as the others, wearing glasses and chomping on the burning popcorn.

Lucy rubbed her head in frustration as the whole guild was starting to turn into some kind of a theater. Just what's wrong with everyone's mind these days? Whatever it is, their generation is moving backwards.

Another clash erupted between two mages as their fight thrilled the people from the sidelines. After that, they three in cheers and bets on their favorite character.

"Who do you think's gonna win?"

"My money's on Erza... She's the mighty Titania you know."

"Mine's on Mirajane. Don't you forget that she was known as the Demon years back."

"Erza's the best. She never falls."

"No, Mira's the winner in this fight!

As the members kept arguing throughout the scene, Makarov shouted in a firm voice as he began his own suggestion of the whole battle.

"NO... This fight must be recorded at all costs... We can make money out of it. Think about it; Titania and the Demon, a glorious battle in the making." He dramatically gestured his hands to his fellow brats who were somehow moved at his suggestion.

What comes after that, was a loud roar from the members who rallied under their master's decision as they both watched the battle again in excitement.

Lucy simply sighed in defeat as she felt herself left out among the members who were really exaggerating too much about the fight between Erza and Mirajane.

Then again, another shockwave blasted from the air, blowing some people from their seats before flying away in delight of the quality of the fight.

As this was going on, Sara can't really take it anymore. Her body was really heating up and her strength isn't like what she normally has. She decided to stand up and try to make her way outside the guild. Her knees were wobbly and her head wasn't working straight. She just need to make it back to Fairy Hills and rest there.

She's isn't up for any jobs for today since she knew what was happening in her current state.

Natsu caught sight of the wind dragonslayer from the corner of his eyes as he saw her staggering from the entrance. Instantly, his entertainment about the whole guild disappeared as his mind told him that she's in trouble.

Swiftly taking off without anyone noticing his departure, Natsu went after the blonde dragonslayer outside of the guild, leaving its members enjoying the movie.

...

...

Seriously, when are they going to stop?

* * *

 _ **Outside Fairy Tail guild... (A few meters away...)**_

...

Sara struggled to hold on. Her strength was beginning to fade from exhaustion and her vision was getting blurry all of a sudden with each step she makes. Fairy Hills is still far away from here. She might not make it back in time.

She also might faint on the spot...

"..Just a little..(pant*)..bit..(pant*)...more." She spoke weakly before trying to drag her feet along with her.

She used a wall to support herself along the way. It was really tiring even for a dragonslayer like her. Catching a fever isn't any different from a normal human catching one.

What a formidable enemy... But she will not falter, not until she makes it back to the dorm. If she would've known about her fever then she could've stayed in the dorm instead and rest. Plus, she really don't want to make her friends worried so she just tried her best to be as energetic as she can be, back at their job.

Unfortunately, it took all her strength to keep herself composed from the job until she finally suffered the symptoms of her fever during the rest of the day.

And here she is, panting and sweating too much. Her clothes are drenched in sweat and her face was lacking energy and looking weak. She can barely stand as she momentarily stopped her tracks as she tried to regain her vision once more. It was getting really blurry and she can't see straight ahead of her surroundings.

It was then, her head was struck by a painful headache that made her to grit her teeth in pain as she tried to nurse her head from the pain. Her body was in its limits, she can't really take it anymore as her knees finally gave up on her and knelt down on the ground with an extremely tired expression.

Her eyes stared in open space as her vision finally began to shroud in blackness.

 _'Oh no... I can't go further any longer...'_ She thought out in distress as her head began to fall down to cold hard floor. She's gonna faint on the spot.

She awaited her contact on the ground but no such contact came as she faintly felt something warm, supporting the back of her head. Her eyes are still weak to open up as blood rose up from her cheeks indicating her fever. It was all blurry and hazy from her vision but she could see a faint glimpse of pink hair from the center of her eyes.

 _'Natsu?'_

Her mind slowly recognized the color of the hair and muttered his name inwardly in her thoughts.

She began to breath fast as she gave off a very hot exhalation of air from her mouth as Natsu held her in his arms gently, calling out her name desperately.

He's been calling out to her ever since he managed to catch her before hitting herself down on the ground, completely worried.

"Sara? Sara? Can you hear me?" He tried again but she was barely keeping her eyes open. He quickly touched her forehead gently before widening his eyes in realization after feeling it.

"As I thought, you have a fever..." He muttered worriedly.

"N-Natsu..." She tried to speak out his name but he shushed her to refrain her from speaking in her condition.

"Don't speak okay... Just rest." He softly ordered, getting the sick dragonslayer in his arms to nod weakly.

He looked around him to see if there's any close medical building around him. Fairy Tail is temporarily out of order because of a certain so-called movie going on. Not to mention, he would've attracted a lot of attention if he returns there. Magnolia Hospital is pretty far from here. His house is off-limits too since he doesn't have any comfy beds to settle her down there.

...

He felt a soft tug on his clothes as he looked towards the panting wind dragonslayer in his arms.

"What is it Sara?" He asked softly as the sick wind dragonslayer weakly pointed a direction towards her dorm which got Natsu to connect the dots and immediately nodded.

"Okay... I'll take you there. Hang in there Sara..." He said worriedly before gently lifting her, bridal style and began to pace normally with a little bit of haste to get towards the dorm in a short time.

Natsu carried her along the way as he held onto her and sprinted along the road. Sara had closed her eyes and tried to rest on his hold. Her cheeks are deeply shaded in red color as her body temperature slowly rises from the usual temperature of that of a human being. He took a brief look at the sick dragonslayer in his arms.

He would've guessed that dragonslayers also have the same condition as humans but doesn't know the effects it has on them since they're mages.

It didn't take long for him to sprint any longer as he caught sight of the dorm in his eyes and gave off a relieved smile before turning back at Sara for reassurance.

"We're almost there..."

Another few seconds of counting time and Natsu was able to come over the gates of the dorm itself. With Sara in his arms, he can't simply leave her alone considering her condition as of now. But is it alright to enter a female dormitory? He's a boy and he thinks they're forbidden to enter.

"W-What's wrong?" Sara weakly spoke as she felt themselves stopping their tracks.

"I don't think I'm allowed inside...Can I call someone inside?"

"No one's inside... They're probably all inside the guild..." She tried her best to speak every word from her mouth as her face rises up once more. Natsu looked around to inspect the surroundings in order to make sure that no one's home. There was no scent inside so it's probably empty.

He took a quick glance over the side of the dorm and got an idea.

"I'll take you to your room right away..." He briefly spoke before, sprinting towards the side of the dorm and looked above the window on the second floor. It was open and the scent of the wind dragonslayer tickled his nose and could only assume that it is her room. He tightened his grip on Sara as he began to bend his legs, seemingly trying for a long jump towards it.

It took a few seconds of preparing until the fire dragonslayer gave one mighty thrust from his legs and flew off the ground and reached the window. He landed smoothly from the inside and finally made it in.

He could make out a small triumph inside his mind for that good stunt.

He had to set his thoughts aside first as he settled the sick girl onto her bed gently before wrapping her with the blanket to keep herself rested. He instinctively wiped off a sweat coming out from his head as he tended to her.

He checked her temperature once again and could only frown in worry as it has no means on going down any moment. He had to do something to revert her temperature back to its normal state.

"Wait here for a bit..." He momentarily spoke before going over to her bathroom to get something.

If Sara was slightly better, she would've panicked since the fire dragonslayer simply went into her bathroom without her permission but in this time around, she could only pull the blanket close to her face due to embarrassment.

She hoped that he doesn't see something unusual inside. She doesn't have the strength to move around so going after him will be pointless but still-

With a male inside her room makes her slightly uncomfortable.

A few seconds passed, Natsu returned with a small bowl in hand together with a small cloth soaked in it as it was filled with water. He knelt in front her and began to use the piece of cloth from the bowl and squeezed it tightly before folding it nicely and placed it gently on her forehead. She felt the coolness of the cloth as it slightly helped ease her heating body for quite some time.

"I'll be taking the cloth off later then place it back to keep it cool for your head okay?" He reminded softly, earning a tiny smile from the sick dragonslayer.

"T-Thank you Natsu..." She whispered but he heard it enough and could only smile in relief before pulling up a seat beside her bed and patiently waited.

Sara simply looked towards the ceiling as she finally gained enough strength to keep herself awake thanks to the cloth and the bed. It was still in the midst of noon and the sun brightness are in its peak. Her face was still sweating from rising heat of her body.

She kept having quick breaths from the heat as he immediately took the cloth from her forehead and simply soaked it again in the small bowl before squeezing it again and repeated the same patterns once again as he placed it again onto her forehead.

"Seriously, if you've told us that you're not feeling well then we could've taken care of you back..." Natsu suddenly spoke with huge concern.

"S-Sorry... ...I just wanted to be with you guys..." She croaked from her fever as she kept a stable breathing to calm herself down.

"Well, what good will it do if you found yourself fainting on the spot?" He spoke solemnly but Sara didn't answer.

She doesn't know how to respond to that as she simply kept silent from their conversation. But Natsu simply reached out a hand and simply stroked her hair gently and softly that made the wind dragonslayer to blush from his actions.

Though her flustered side wasn't showed since her cheeks are rising in color because of the fever, thus masking her blush right infront of the fire dragonslayer.

"...But I guess. You simply done that for our sake Sara. Now let me take care of you okay?"

"Okay..." Came out a meekly reply as Sara settled her blanket just at her chest and began to look at the window. The wind slightly made its way to room as both mages felt its smooth touch from the outside.

For Sara, it is a great feeling. Though she cannot enjoy it much at her current condition.

"So this is your room huh?" The pinkette noted as he silently walked around her room. She didn't noticed him leaving his seat so she suddenly widen her eyes in surprise.

"U-Uh... N-Natsu.. T-That's..." She stuttered as she tried to reach out to stop him. Her cheeks are blushing once again though concealed in her fever. She couldn't help herself because he was actually scanning her room.

 _'I hope he doesn't find it odd for him...'_

Well of course, it's odd since he was a boy. They had different tastes inside their room though. Again, Natsu was visibly observing every corner of her room. Examining her closed closet, a small drawer, a nightstand beside her bed, and a small study table with couples of books stacked to each other. The last part intrigued him as he moved to look over the books in the table and opened one and began to read.

"N-Natsu?... That's my..." She could not finish her words as Natsu simply delved in further as he quickly sifted throughout its pages.

"Do you like reading?" He asked as he turned his gaze away from the book and into her.

Sara smiled despite having a fever and tried to speak.

"Y-Yes... Zephyria always told me stories about the world..."

"Oh yeah. I remember when you told me that back at your first job...You tricked me too back then." He simply shrugged his shoulders and pouted in irritation.

"Fufufu... I'm sorry about that." She sincerely apologized before letting out a small cough.

"You don't need to... I had fun too even though it ended like that when Erza tried to kill me... Seriously, what's her problem about that?"

The wind dragonslayer could only chuckle at his oblivious nature so she decided to tell the whole reason.

"Erza-san thought that we had a thing for each other..."

"What's that suppose to mean?" He asked innocently, still not getting the meaning behind her statement.

"It means that you and I are like a married couple..." She muttered under her blanket, unable to express it out since it greatly flusters her.

...

...

And in that moment, Natsu also blushed before turning his head sideways to keep his flustered face hidden from her. It's the same thing for Sara as she turned her head towards the other direction, unable to face him due to her words earlier.

Silence flooded the atmosphere between them as both mages did not speak at each other for a moment until Natsu began to walk over to her.

"I'm soaking the cloth again..." He offered making the wind dragonslayer to hesitate at first but complied in the end as she turned back her head facing him intently.

He took the cloth from her forehead before dipping it again in the bowl of water and squeezed it a bit tightly to get the excess water out of the cloth.

He did the same process again and simply laid it gently over to the wind dragonslayer's forehead. Sara laid down comfortably to her bed and began to rest for a bit with the blanket covering her.

"How're you feeling?" Natsu asked.

"F-Feeling a little bit better... Thank you..."

"Thank me after you're fully recovered from it..."

The two momentarily stopped speaking as Natsu let her rest for a bit to regain some of her energy. The day is still progressing and it seems that it'll take longer than usual for him to look after her since his other friends are inside the guild, probably enjoying the movie still taking place inside. He can't just leave her behind so he decided to stay at the moment.

"How's the guild? I mean, do you get used to it?" Natsu began to ask the resting dragonslayer beside him.

"Yes... They're very fun and precious to hang out with... Although not the fight, I still don't get used to it."

Natsu simply chuckled getting Sara to quirk an eyebrow from his action.

"What?"

"Nothing... It's just that it's the same reaction to Lucy and Wendy when they first came into the guild."

"I think it's quite normal for them to react that way..." She paused.

"...But they knew it was really fun since everyone had a good time with it."

"Yeah..." Natsu smiled warmly at the wind dragonslayer who also returned an angelic smile.

...

 **KNOCK* KNOCK* KNOCK***

...

A sudden knock on the door made the two dragonslayers jolt in surprise as Natsu turned over the door and began to panic.

"Oh crap. Someone's on the door." He muttered silently.

Sara was also panicking because she never thought that someone would really come home at this kind of time. She looked over the sweating dragonslayer who doesn't know what to do.

"Sara-san? I'm coming in..."

 _'That voice? It's Wendy!'_

Natsu and Sara thought out in disbelief upon recognizing the voice from the outside. The door knob slightly tilted open indicating that it's not locked. Natsu needs to make a decision to hide somewhere.

But where? This is Wendy they're talking about. She's a dragonslayer and she'll definitely sniffed him out and probably misunderstand the situation of him being here. He gritted his teeth in frustration as his eyes looked swiftly at the furniture. The closet was off limits because of Sara's presence. There isn't much anything to hide himself.

He'd be stupid enough to hide at the nightstand. Like that will ever hide him from her completely.

The door slowly opened giving Natsu one more chance to make split-second decision to sprint at the window and crash to the ground.

But before he could turn around and run, he was pulled forcefully by the hand, making him to drag his own body along with it. He widen his eyes in surprise at what happened.

...

 **SWOOSH***

...

The door opened revealing the blue-haired teen who came inside only to widen her eyes in worry as she managed to find Sara in her bed with a cloth placed on her forehead. There was no one in sight except the resting wind dragonslayer.

"Sara!" She exclaimed in surprise.

"H-Hey Wendy..." She croaked in her voice before getting a slight cough from her throat that made Wendy to walk over and check up on her.

"What happened? And you're feeling kinda hot. Did you catch a fever or something?" Wendy looked over to her temperature and checked it.

Sara could only nod weakly at her question before speaking.

"Sorry... I just went back to get some rest..." The wind dragonslayer tried to speak despite her fever.

"All by yourself? You should've asked me about it. I was worried when you disappeared from the guild earlier..." Wendy replied worriedly.

Meanwhile, Sara simply forced a smile while trying to hide the fact all about Natsu, carrying her all the way here. It would've been a disaster if she knew all about it. Plus, the fact that Natsu was actually inside the room. She was glad that she didn't manage to ask all about the fire dragonslayer at the moment though it backfired on her assumptions when Wendy began to ask the same thing to her.

"Speaking of which, do you know where Natsu went? He suddenly disappeared at the guild without saying anything."

A slight twitch moved between the covers beside Sara's blanket which prompted the wind dragonslayer to slightly tap the blanket to keep it down. Sara began to fidget from her bed as she tried adjusting herself from the lump forming beside her blanket and buried it with a pillow. Wendy noticed her best friend's involuntary movements on her bed and felt slightly worried.

"I-Is something wrong Sara?" She asked worriedly, making the wind dragonslayer to jolt in surprise of her question.

"N-Nothing's wrong Wendy..." She made a reassuring smile and took a forced laughter to drop the subject about it much to the bluenette's confusion at her statement.

As this was going on, Natsu tried to keep himself hidden among the blanket covers beside the wind dragonslayer. Currently, he was pulled into her bed beside Sara to mask his presence and smell from the sky dragonslayer. However, there's just one problem.

The smell of the wind dragonslayer entered his nose as it intoxicated his senses from keeping himself composed. He remembered back at the time when Igneel taught him about other dragons.

The mighty dragon reminded him of the strong scents the female dragons' were giving and if he happens to encounter a female dragonslayer, he urged him to keep a safe distance since their scents stimulated their senses that would result later into some unwanted results. And now there he is, hidden in the blankets of the sick dragonslayer, trying his best to get himself out of sight and at the same time, he's on the verge of suffocating from her intoxicating smell that gave him the chills from his spine due to his father's warning.

He wondered what would really happen. But he knows that it's nothing good.

He can't make a slight move since Wendy is still in the room. A huge pillow is placed above him and restricted him from making small movements as Sara buried the lump on the blanket. His dilemma was just getting started as his face immediately shot up into high temperatures despite his constitution.

Apparently, he found himself unable to guard his eyes from Sara's body which was been sweating for some quite time now and completely drenched in sweat revealing some covered skin. Even though he was laid sideways, Sara's upfront position got him a glimpse of her curvaceous body that made him blush with the help of her scent invading through his nose.

The loose strap of her bra coming out from her drenched clothes alerted him. And in an instant, he closed his eyes to shield it from the incoming obscene sight.

No! He will not lose his pure eyes just because of this. Finding Igneel was another thing and keeping himself pure until with his reunion is a top priority.

If any man who was somehow on the same position as he is, he could probably die happy from it. Not because of joy but because of blood loss. Heck, this is the dream of any man out there would actually dream of but for Natsu, this is hell. Definitely hell...His instincts are getting the best of him but he held his ground.

You might say he's pretty tough. Unaware for him, a small trickle of blood came out from his nose...

As this was going on, Wendy finally caught of the familiar scent that slightly bothered her for some quite time now ever since coming inside Sara's room.

"Is it just me or I'm picking up Natsu's scent around the room." She asked.

Sara's jaw dropped and her face suddenly paled with her eyes widening like white saucers of her question.

 _'Oh no! She noticed it!'_ She cried in disbelief inside her thoughts as Wendy paced around the room, trying to sniff the whole room. Natsu's scent came stronger as Wendy came over the bathroom.

"Hey Sara... Did Natsu come here by any chance? I was also looking for him since he also disappeared from the guild which is quite unusual..." She pondered in thought.

"W-What are you talking about? Natsu is forbidden here right? Why would he come here?" She frantically laughed it off as she tried to shake off her assumptions.

"I know right... Though it's just weird you know... For his scent to linger here..." Wendy deeply thought.

"M-Maybe you're overreacting a bit..." Sara spoke.

"I guess...Well, I should get going by now... Just rest there okay? Don't overexert your body too much."

"Sure thing Wendy... Thank you for visiting.." She gave a sigh of relief inwardly as the bluenette began to walk over by the door. And at the same time, Natsu gave off a sigh relief from his breath. However, his sigh didn't go unnoticed for the bluenette who managed to pick it up from her ears and looked back at the room.

"I just heard a sigh... Is there someone in your room Sara?" She began to ask curiously as she went back to the room again widening their eyes in shock.

Natsu gulped and began to sweat more than he ever could as he completely forgot about their heightened ears. Meanwhile, Sara gave him a jab to his chest secretly before making a straight face towards the suspecting bluenette before her.

Just as she was about to leave, he already blew it.

"You must be imagining things... Wendy." She gave off another cough, indicating her fever's presence on her body despite the situation.

"Hmm..." She pondered again before scanning the room around her. Some part of her tells that Sara's lying about something. A woman's intuition? She doesn't know but she doesn't want to dig in it any further since she might come out wrong on her assumptions. But then again, she was slightly bothered over to Sara's bed after seeing a lump beside her.

"Hey Sara... What is that beside you?" She pointed over the bed beside her.

Sara paled after being asked by that bothersome question. Natsu gulped nervously under the sheet as he could see his doom right before his eyes.

 _'I'm definitely not gonna survive this... Somebody help me! ! !'_

The fire dragonslayer screamed inwardly in his thoughts as he continued to battle his inner turmoil and his concealment from the bluenette beside Sara. With each passing second, the wind dragonslayer's scent became stronger and his mind was starting to go blank at any moment.

Back at Sara, she definitely need something to avoid this question but how? She could see Natsu was visibly shaking under the blanket due to nervousness. She has to find a way without them getting caught from Wendy's suspicions. Finally deciding her decision, she immediately shifted sideways and finally embraced the unsuspecting dragonslayer beside her and hugged him tight together with the pillow placed above him. The cloth placed above her forehead fell off after her quick stirring.

Natsu however, felt his mind wrecking up in any moment. He was completely dumbstruck as Sara immediately hugged him tightly close to her body. His face was literally touching her chest drenching in sweat from the fever. And in an instant, blood rushed out from his cheeks due to extreme embarrassment, tinting them red the moment he found himself dug deep into her soft mounds.

 _'WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING TO ME?!'_

He thought out in disbelief.

Like I said, any man could die in peace with this... But for him, it was a nightmare.

In addition to that, her scent came in stronger for his nose to handle and his body reacted to it and could feel himself very dizzy as he came too close to her. Her legs are placed over to his as if she was really clinging into him way too much than a normal one. Her arms wrapped around him to make it seemed like she was hugging him like a pillow.

Sara had to fight back her embarrassment and her flustered face for the sake of not getting caught. Even with her fever present, her blushing side covered her face in red color. Why did it have to come to this?

"T-T-This is just a pillow right? A-Anyway I'm feeling sleepy. I gotta sleep now. Hope you find Natsu.." Sara briefly spoke before digging her head above Natsu's to cover him completely with her body.

"O-Okay... Then I'll be off again. Sorry for bothering you Sara." Wendy smiled as she went back to the door before giving the sleeping dragonslayer one last glance.

"...Get well soon."

And with that, she closed the door completely, finally leaving them alone again. Sara waited for a few moments to move again to make sure, she's gone. After waiting, she instantly pulled away her blanket and inched farther away from the fire dragonslayer who lying face down from the other side of the bed, with the blanket covering her body even though she was dressed.

"J-J-Just of the record, I did not do it on purpose. It was necessary okay? I-It's not like I wanted to hug you or anything... Don't misunderstand me." Sara's voice quivered from nervousness and embarrassment of her action back then. It was definitely the most shameless thing she'd done in her life.

Unaware for her, Natsu was still not moving from his position. It took her for a few seconds to realize that he's not moving at all and became slightly worried.

"H-Hey.. Natsu?" She called out and went back to him and tried shifting him only to see him blacked out from her intoxicating scent and his flustered face.

"N-Natsu? Oi! Get a hold of yourself Natsu!" Sara shouted in worry as she began to shake off the unconscious dragonslayer comically with her arms on his shoulders.

However, Natsu simply got himself an extra rest. It doesn't matter what happens next. All he needs is just enough rest for his body after suffering from the closeness of her to him. Still, he doesn't know what kind of effect does the closeness of one female dragonslayer will give him. It just gave him a suffocating feeling. Whatever it is, he's never gonna come close again to a dragonslayer of the opposite sex.

...

...

He had to wonder though, how come he isn't having trouble when Wendy slept beside him in his sleep the other night? Maybe it's because he was asleep...

* * *

 ** _Fairy Hills... (A few hours later...) Afternoon..._**

Sara and Natsu are silent again as the latter sat back to his seat, taking breaths heavily one after another while Sara was facing the other direction of her bed, unable to face the pinkette straightly after what happened earlier. The sun was already setting and the defiant sky adorned itself with brilliant reds and oranges. The fiery red orb of light sank towards the horizon with each passing second.

Natsu finally calmed down after all what happened and tried to look at the wind dragonslayer who was now looking at the sunset outside her window. He stopped for a moment as he watched her gaze through the sinking sun. A small breeze of wind crept its way towards the window and into the room. Her golden hair draped down to her back until being blown away by the breeze in a majestic manner.

"Umm... Sara?" He began their conversation. The blonde dragonslayer looked back at him with confused eyes.

"Hmm?" She hummed in thought upon mentioning her name.

"I'm sorry..."

"For what?"

"Well... about what happened earlier." He sounded apologetic.

Sara could only smile at him warmly with blushing cheeks.

"There's no need for you to say sorry... I should say sorry too...for umm..doing something like that out of the blue.." She began to slump herself back to her bed and covered half of her face with her blanket.

"I-It's nothing... Good thing. There's no casualties..." He scratched his head sheepishly.

"You are the casualty... You fainted after Wendy left remember?" Sara deadpanned before chuckling at his answer to her.

"Sorry... I must have made you worried." He apologized as he took a brief look on the sick dragonslayer.

"I-It's nothing." She spoke sincerely of his concern over her which she finds it unusually uplifting for her.

"How're you feeling now?"

"Fine I guess. I'm able to move around than usual..." The wind dragonslayer slowly tried to move around.

Natsu was relieved to hear that.

"Well, I'm glad because you'll need it to change some clothes..." He spoke blankly.

"Eh?" Sara felt the need to blink not once but twice at his suggestion. Not long after that, her face lit up again in deep red despite her fever and began to panic from the fire dragonslayer.

"W-What are you trying to say?" She blushed as she tried to use her blanket to shield herself from the pinkette who was already holding some clothes in her hands. She had to ask though, since when did he manage to get his hands on her clothes? He never even went to the closet ever since waking up from his unconsciousness.

"What are you talking about? I'll be leaving these clothes right here so you can change afterwards." He explained.

"What about you?" She asked doubtfully.

"I'll be here, waiting for you to get changed." He blankly spoke, only to have himself get hit by a flying pillow straight to his face from the blonde dragonslayer.

"AT LEAST, WAIT AT THE BATHROOM!"

And with that, Natsu went to the bathroom, sulking. Not because of disappointment but because of Sara's outburst of against him having to stay and watch her get changed. Seriously, what is there to be upset about? He did the same with Erza since they were kids. He didn't mind anyone get changed in front of him except for the stripper. He just can't stand his presence, stripping down to his shorts and probably scaring a few kids to death if they happen to be around him.

Well whatever, he didn't care a single bit about it.

He continued to complain inside his thoughts for a few more minutes when Sara called back to him, indicating that she's finished changing. He got back from his thoughts and decided to walk back to the room.

There he saw the wind dragonslayer in her green dotted pajamas with green hearts adding more decorations around it. Her ribbon tied to her back was gone, leaving only a silky blonde hair that draped down to her back with two ringlets still left dangling infront of her shoulders. She seemed to be hugging a medium-sized, light green, heart pillow just at her chest.

Her used clothes are folded already to a small laundry basket near the nightstand.

She was currently standing just infront of him as if she was showing something to him.

Natsu however, somehow felt dumbfounded at the outfit even though it's just a nightdress. Sara noticed his surprise over her outfit and could not help but blush and turned away.

"W-What?"

Her words seemed to knock him out from his daze and looked at her as if he met her for the first time.

"N-Nothing..." Natsu replied briefly with a bit of stuttering at the end of his reply.

Sara isn't feeling any better yet so she can't really move around and decided to return back to her bed and instantly covered herself with a blanket just at her waist with the heart pillow in her arms.

Natsu went back to his seat beside her and began to return back the cloth and did the same process again and put it gently above her forehead.

He took a brief look over the window only to see the outside world already consumed by the dark night. The sun already went down replacing the once salmon and purple sky into a vast expanse of jet-black that engulfed the town. The light of the room shone inside unlike from the outside. A canopy of luminous stars materialized at the ocean of blackness above Earthland. Some were dull, merely flickering into existence every now and then, while some have adequate amount of light to shimmer down and illuminate the dark night.

"I guess it's about time I get home now... Are you okay now on your own?" He asked at the resting dragonslayer who became uneasy at the question.

To be honest, she wanted him to stay but she knew that he had to return to his home. Happy might be also worried.

Though it felt strange for her to feel this way. This kind of feeling had just struck upon her recently as she can't bear to let go of the pinkette. Like she had become attached to him to the point of not letting him go from her sights.

Was it because of the times she spent with him. Though little, she felt every moment with him precious to her.

An odd feeling found its way to her heart and it felt painful...

"S-sure... I can take care of my own now... ...Thank you Natsu for taking care of me." She forced a sad smile as Natsu simply nodded and began to walk his way out of the window before giving himself one last glance at the blonde dragonslayer.

"Then...I'll see you tomorrow Sara." He briefly.

"Uuuunn... Sure." The wind dragonslayer replied back with small hint of sadness at the edge of her words.

Natsu then went off as he made along jump towards the ground, leaving her alone in her room again. She finally sighed but she felt lonely about it as she looked over the empty room. The silence returned and Sara simply disregarded it and slowly sat from her bed before standing up to leaned herself over the window. She set aside the cloth on her forehead for a moment as she simply looked over the outside.

There was no sight of the dragonslayer anymore since his figure was easily swallowed in midst of the darkness outside. She could only gaze upon the stars and began to think deeply. The winds continue to blow softly towards her direction that simply swayed her blonde hair in a graceful manner.

Her fever was still present but she didn't mind about it.

She had enough rest to keep herself composed. The air around her was nice. It refreshed her wholly despite her condition.

"I guess I better sleep then..." She spoke to herself, having nothing to do at the rest of the night.

The wind dragonslayer simply went back to her bed before summoning a tiny gust of wind from her fingers and pointed it towards the lacrima switch and launched it. Despite being a small torrent of wind, it was enough to push the other of the switch, which caused it to turn off the lights above her thus, shrouding the room in darkness. Convenient huh?

The illuminating lights of the night sky reached through her open window as the curtains swayed from the winds outside.

Hugging over to her heart-shaped pillow, she made a stir sideways before closing her eyes to sleep.

She does not feel sleepy at all though. she just wanted to close them to force herself to sleep since she had nothing to do for the night. She could only hope that her fever would probably settle down tomorrow thanks to Natsu.

Yes. Tomorrow she could finally see him again in the guild. And have fun like they usually do.

Sara took a quick mindful of thanking the fire dragonslayer too. She might feel bad for not showing some appreciation on his part since he really did his best to look after her.

She blushed.

Thinking about the fire dragonslayer again made her heart race much to her confusion. She didn't know why her heart reacted that way.

Maybe a heart attack or a symptom from her fever? No, it's a bit exaggerating... But still, she's confused.

Her mind was suddenly filled with images of the pinkette that made her blush under her pillow. She had to bury herself for thinking so randomly about the fire dragonslayer and hide it even though no one's around.

 _'Why am I thinking about him at this time?'_

Her mind was completely occupied by the thoughts of Natsu that kept playing back like a theater. She really needed to sleep and think about it tomorrow. Plus, she needed all the time she needed to get this fever out of her.

She gave a deep sigh as she began to close her eyes once again to doze off to sleep; she stirred sideways with the pillow on her arms before her body finally succumbed to the sleepiness that made its way to her in just moments after setting her thoughts aside about the pinkette.

She felt the warm blanket covering her but it's not the kind of warmth that she really needed now. Her fever was still prominent as she gave off a hot breath and the cold winds came inside the room. Her body reacted at the coldness and gave her the shivers even though she was covered by her blanket.

Her vision finally blacked out as the drowsiness overwhelmed her completely. The night was still early as the faint sounds of the rustling leaves occupy the room in a serene manner. Her consciousness leaving her from the world and into her dreams once again as the dragonslayer slept on her bed.

...

...

...

A few hours passed as the night continued at midnight. The windows inside her room is still open.

The night sky was more brighter as the skies above are clear enough to see much of the stars flickering down at the earth. The winds continued their peaceful movement from the plants and trees as the rustling sounds played through the night like a low and peaceful music.

Sara stirred from her sleep once again as she felt herself waking up again from the fever.

Her slumber was interrupted by the freezing breeze as her eyes squinted and opened afterwards. She slowly rubbed her eyes from her sleep and began to look around the room.

She frowned after seeing herself waking up in the middle of the night. Her hair was slightly messy and her eyes wandered off to the open window where the curtains still continued to dance with the wind. The night sky somehow gave her a sufficient light to know her surroundings.

 _'Why did I wake in such a time?'_

She wondered before staring deeply into open space before her.

The fever is slightly going down and her body temperature is slowly reverting back to its original heat. Though, that didn't stop her from shivering from the cold blasts of the wind that came inside from the window in just moments after pondering.

 _'At this rate, I cannot sleep from these winds.'_

Well it can't be avoided since the night was still going on and the breeze was cold at this time. She would have to endure it for the rest of the night.

She looked at the door at her left and began to think again.

 _'Wendy and the others are asleep as well... Might as well return back to my own sleep too.'_

She laid backwards again before looking up to the ceiling in thought about what happened earlier. Oh yeah, she remembered Natsu taking good care of her while she was sick.

A smile crept up to her lips as she remembered it all completely. Might wanna give him a great appreciation later for his caring side.

She was about to sleep again when she heard a faint thud coming from her window that prompted her to look over to it.

"W-Who's there?" Sara muttered silently to prevent the others from waking up.

The figure was still dusting his clothes from his silent crash to her room. The light of the night sky made it difficult to see his face entirely but she finally recognized it as his hair gave off a light tinge of pink color against the illuminating light.

"N-Natsu? What are you doing here?" She spoke out in disbelief in seeing the familiar dragonslayer coming in to view.

"Hey... Sara. Just came here to hang out." He whispered.

"At this time of night?" He nodded, getting the blonde dragonslayer to facepalm at his answer.

"Well, more like staying for the night..." He corrected, shocking Sara.

"What do you mean you're staying here for the night? I'm not Lucy and this is not her apartment...Don't just barge in without someone's permission. What about Happy?" She asked frantically.

"Ah, I let him sleep first in my house before coming over here."

"Why do you want to stay the night here?"

"Well, you're quite sad when I left. So I decided to come over to make sure you're okay till the rest of the night." Again, Sara was shocked at his words and more importantly, his reasons of coming over to her room.

 _'He was worried because I felt lonely?'_

Of course, it was surprising for her since he really did his way out just to meet her and accompany her from her sleep.

A small smile crept its way towards her face before blushing from the statement.

..

..

 _He really worries over for his friends that greatly._

..

..

Natsu then looked over to the wind dragonslayer who's face is shadowed for a moment.

"Sara?" He tried asking over the blonde girl.

...

"Thank you Natsu..." She finally lifted her face with a warm smile that gave the pinkette a slight blush from his cheek.

"W-Welcome..." He walked over to his seat beside her and began to look at her intently.

Sara simply laid down to the bed again only to look back to the fire dragonslayer at his seat quizzically.

"What are you doing?" She asked as if she was trying to correct him.

"Watching you while you sleep..."

"That's kinda creepy." Sara quivered but Natsu chuckled lightly at her reaction.

"I'm not trying to be one... I mean, that I'll be here waiting for you to sleep. After all, you don't want to be alone right?" He reasoned that slightly surprised the blonde mage.

"Yo... ...ca... s...eep wit... ...e..." She silently muttered under her breath that made Natsu to quirk an eyebrow of her reply.

"What is it Sara?"

"I-I said, y-y-you c-can sleep w-with me if you w-want to." She shyly spoke with a bit of stuttering in between her words. Blood rushed out from her cheeks, completely flustered from her suggestion.

It took Natsu a few seconds to realize of what she said only to have his face flare up in red color same as her.

"W-What're you saying?" He stood up from his seat and slightly back away like he was dumbstruck at her suggestion. Well he was really shocked considering the fact that she'd actually offered him to sleep next to her which he finds it unusual.

"W-Well it's just... umm... it will be a b-bother to me i-if you just waited for me to s-sleep so... umm... it's okay.." She began to mutter some unusual words as she played through her fingers in a childish way.

However for Natsu, he felt hesitant. Not because of his flustered face but because of the fact that he'll have to suffer what happened back there again. But wait, there's has to be a boundary right? He only felt it because she was way too close to him.

He wanted to refuse but he can't just turn down an offer from her since she's worried for him to be waiting there all night. To be honest, he needed rest too. Waiting Happy to fall asleep until midnight was a difficult task since he'd never done anything like this before. He only came here to keep her company and probably have some sleep in the chair while he's at it.

 _'What am I going to do Igneel?'_

He asked inwardly of his father even though he expected no answer but still he need some stall to think.

He looked again to the wind dragonslayer who was looking away with her heart pillow on her chest. She just couldn't face him after proposing such an unusual suggestion. Her cheeks are still tinged in red color which he assumed that it is her fever.

 _'Arrgh... This is so hard...'_ He mentally cursed himself.

 _'Okay, okay... This is just for her sake. No harm intended here alright?'_

He finally decided as he gave off a deep sigh before looking to the wind dragonslayer.

"W-Well, I guess I could sleep beside you..." He spoke halfheartedly, surprising Sara.

"Oh, o-okay.. There's enough space to other side so it shouldn't be a problem right?"

"Yeah sure..." He stood up form his seat and finally sat at the other side of the bed while Sara was already laid back with a blanket covering her.

Natsu finally laid his head to a soft pillow and began to stir on the side while keeping his distance from the wind dragonslayer.

The two just laid there away from each other with nothing to talk to. It was still midnight so they need to resume back to their sleep for tomorrow. Sara's fever continued to go down without her noticing it because the nervousness she was feeling right now.

Never in her life, she'd spent a night with a guy beside her. It never occurred to her since she's been used to sleeping alone in her own room back at Yuriko's mansion. Her cheeks was still tinted red from her nervousness of the pinkette sleeping beside her.

And for some reason, she felt herself unable to sleep due to it.

"Can't sleep?" A voice sounded behind her, prompting her to turn around and saw Natsu laying upfront, facing the ceiling before looking back at her. The distance of their faces was close so Sara slightly fidgeted upon seeing him.

"Y-Yeah..." She turned away looking at the ceiling with Natsu doing the same.

They just laid there looking at the dark ceiling, contemplating about their thoughts about each other. They didn't speak as minutes passed; they just laid there wide awake as the night progresses to the new day. Silence flooded the room leaving only a faint sound of winds outside the dorm that gave off a pleasant feeling to their ears.

It was then Natsu suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"I'm glad I met you Sara..." He solemnly spoke out of the blue getting Sara to stutter and looked at him with a surprised expression.

"W-What are you-" She stopped halfway as she immediately found him asleep after muttering those words.

His eyes finally closed as the faint breeze swayed his spiky hair through the night. His face was devoid of nightmares as he slept peacefully beside her.

Sara just stared at him in wonder as if she was placed under the state of trance, looking at his innocent face dozing off in the tranquility of the night. She smiled warmly at him and began to return back to her sleep.

She slightly moved over to him silently with her cheeks tinted red at her actions. But she didn't matter.

She just wanted to know how it feels like to be close to him.

After taking small movements towards him, she finally found herself beside him, feeling the warmth of his body that easily replaced the cold feeling of her body. She hugged her pillow tightly as he placed her head above his stretched arm which she used it as a cushion. She looked over to the fire dragonslayer one more time before closing her eyes to sleep again peacefully beside him.

...

...

 _'It's warm... ... Just like her.'_

* * *

 _ **Fairy Hills (Morning...)**_

The colors of the morning were hued by a soothing lavender and brilliant amber. The approaching light began to eat away the darkness of the night as a new day had risen again to the world. Morning dew descend from the mountains as the sun woke up from the East, illuminating the sky with its radiance.

Natsu slightly twitched his brows as he felt the ray of light trying to make its way through his eyes, causing him to instantly lose his sleepiness and woke, facing the ceiling. Flickers of the sunlight made its way from the open window.

He adjusted his eyes to his surroundings and gave a light yawn before looking again to the familiar room he was in.

Oh yeah, he slept in Sara's room... ...

Speaking of the owner's room, where is she? He looked around but there was no sight of the wind dragonslayer until he felt a soft feeling in his arms, prompting him to look beside him only to pale after looking at it.

Sara was sleeping beside him. How in the world did that happen?

He slightly scooted away from her to the very edge of her bed before taking deep breaths. He was sure that they slept in a safe distance but how did she manage to inch herself closer to him?

He did not do anything right? His eyes slowly fixated themselves over the sleeping wind dragonslayer with a heart-shaped pillow on her. After a few minutes, he finally calmed down as his heart had returned to its normal rate. He slowly reached out his hand towards her forehead and checked her temperature.

He smiled as he found out that she finally recovered from it.

His actions somehow, urged the wind dragonslayer to open her eyes and finally woke up from her sleep, shocking Natsu as he instantly retreated his hand back to him. Sara noticed the fire dragonslayer and could only make out a tired yawn before greeting him.

"Good morning Natsu..." She lazily greeted.

"G-Good morning..."

"Did you have a good sleep?"

"I think so... yeah. Anyway, how're your feeling now?" He asked curiously, getting her to check her condition.

"I'm fine now. The fever is gone. Thank you Natsu." She smiled warmly at the fire dragonslayer who slightly blushed.

"I-Is that so? I'm glad... then I'll be going now." He motioned himself off the bed, having to complete of what he actually came for.

"Umm. Natsu wait-" She tried to reach to hold him only to grab his wrist that caused him to stagger back to the bed and crash to the wind dragonslayer.

...

...

"Wha-" He stopped as he found himself on all-fours above Sara who was laying back at the bed, facing his black onyx eyes.

"I-I uhh-" Sara was left dumbfounded as they found themselves on an embarrassing position as her luminescent blue eyes met with his.

They went still after that, unable to move from their current position as they continued eye each other with wonder. Their cheeks are both tainted in deep red color as their flustered face gave away their embarrassment to each other.

However their lone-time gaze had come into an abrupt end when they heard a sound of a door opening with a perky bluenette coming over with a present in her hands.

It's not just her though, as a familiar scarlet knight and a white-haired barmaid came over to view behind the sky dragonslayer with each of their own separate gifts for the blonde dragonslayer.

"Good morning Sara. I told Erza-san and Mira-san you were feeling sick so we had to buy some food for you to... ... ...get... ...better." Wendy's voice had come into a ritardando as her eyes looked over the said dragonslayer with the pinkette on top of her.

"What's the matter Wendy? You look like... ... ...you've... ..seen ... ...a ...ghost." Erza soon followed with the same tone just like the bluenette before dropping her present from her hands.

"Erza... What are you standing on about? We're supposed...to... ...hand ... these... gifts..." Mirajane took the third and last shock as she saw Natsu on top of Sara in her own bed.

The three girls stood there utterly shocked at the sight before them as Natsu and Sara sweated at their arrival. Though the former was more sweating than usual. With the three of them standing before them with shocked faces, he knew he wouldn't leave to see another day.

"What the commotion here? I thought we're just helping out... ...Sara." Charle came into view only to have her jaws dropped at the sight.

"N-N-Natsu?! What are you doing?" The white Exceed's words seemed to knock him off his trance before frantically flailing his arms in panic.

"W-Wait... I can explain to all of this... Believe me. It's not what you think guys.." He backed away with a hint of fear in his voice.

Then in an instant, the three girls suddenly flared up in magic power of their respective magic as their faces instantly shadowed their expression. Their auras instantly struck fear in his heart as he felt extremely nervous. As if their auras are suffocating him just by looking at it.

 **". . . .N-A-T-S-U. . . . ."**

The three girls growled in mentioning his name that almost had him crapping in his pants as he retreated to the corner of the room with three ladies glaring down on him.

"T-There's an explanation for this really..." He tried to reason but they simply shot him a killing glare that made him shut his mouth.

 **"So it's true is it? That you and Sara are doing it..."** Erza growled as she requipped into her Purgatory Armor.

 **"Ara, ara. Natsu that's not fair... You should be doing that to me only."** Mirajane transformed into her Satan Soul with a gentle yet devilish smile that even scared him more. There's no way for him doing 'that' to her. AND WHAT THE HELL IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?

 **"Natsu... First me then Sara..."** Wendy blankly spoke as she summoned a powerful torrent of wind form her arms as her magic glowed violently than her usual magical power output. Wait, what does she mean her then Sara? He did not do anything wrong dammit!

"I-It was an accident!"

They ignored him as they simply pointed their readied attacks against him that made him wanna write his last will if he had a paper and shit. Sara stood there dumbfounded, unable to help the pinkette who was already comically crying to spare his life.

She had to ask herself though; will the room explode?

"DIVINE PUNISHMENT X3! ! !"

"Noooooo! ! !"

* * *

 **A/N: And stop. Chapter 15 is finished at last. :)**

 **I used my current condition to make this chapter though I have a cold while Sara had a fever so it's quite different but it gave me an idea. And so we're done with her development chapter. Well I don't know whether to call it a development or not but at least it's done.**

 **Right now, I'm feeling slightly better now as I can finally write more and return to my usual update schedule again so Hooray for me ^^**

 **Look forward in the next chapter and thanks guys for reading. :)**

 **Don't forget to leave a review for your thoughts in the story. It's common courtesy.**

 **Until next time guys. Ja Ne.**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


	16. Unexpected Visitor

**A/N: Hello dear readers. wiErD here. I'm back with another chapter... hehe. Got something planned already for the second major arc so please look forward to it.**

 **And of course, you know who will appear in this chapter right? Read along and you'll find the secrets hidden in this story.**

 **Well there's no secret in this... Just plots and OCs and such but whatever. Moving on.**

 **Here's chapter 16 of the story.**

 **Have Fun and Happy Reading :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters... I just own my OCs.**

* * *

 **\- Unexpected Visitor -**

The town of Magnolia was still as bustling as ever. With people from houses and stores flock the streets, the town had become much a tourist attraction and a bustling market for both people. Food carriages and other types of transportation crammed into the streets and at the center of the plaza, a sea of people, of all ages and ethnicities, filled the area with different plans regarding their flow of the day.

Some opened up their own shops for the people while others do their daily works for their benefits.

The bright light of the fiery sun radiated its brilliant and warm glow towards the whole earth indicating the long day ahead of its inhabitants.

At the train station, was a multitude of people waiting at the train platform as the locomotive slowly came into view. The sound of its engine whirring towards the station alarming the other people sitting on the benches to get up and await its imminent arrival. A small plume of black smoke can be seen from the distance as the train was gradually nearing the train platform.

The brakes slowly screeched as it begins to reduce the speed of the moving locomotive towards the station. And in just a few seconds, the train slowly made it to the platform before stopping completely, indicating its full stop on the station.

Soon afterwards, the doors of the train slowly opened as passengers from different towns and areas disembark on the train replacing it with the ones who were waiting at the station though, there are some who stayed inside looking for the next destination.

The exchange of passengers took place as two figures came out from the transportation with two luggage respectively carrying one with each other.

They stepped out of the train before looking to each other with smiles on their faces.

After that, they went on with their luggage and walked a few more meters away from the train which made another loud sound from its bell, signifying its departure once again towards its next destination.

But the two disregarded it as they finally stepped out from the train station and admire the bustling town for the first time.

"We're finally here..." A perky voice sounded from the two as the smaller figure jumped around in glee of having themselves set foot on the town.

"Yes we are..." The other figure simply smiled at the gleeful companion as she took a good look on the town before them.

Magnolia is sure as busy as they had expected. People of different plans walked through the streets with some carrying their own things and possibly carriages as they roam around town. Stores and shops that sell foods and other stuffs are present almost from each side of the street. The people simply smiled and greeted them as they past by them with a warm smile even though they're strangers.

Let it be known that the people are just used to strangers and weird happenings around them since they already witnessed them firsthand by the help of a certain guild that they both took it as a pride or a disaster for the town.

..

..

Even so, they don't mind about it as it was considered to be one of their so-called normal days. And nothing seems to change it until now as they wanted it to stay that way.

The two simply waved back at them with warm smiles plastered on their faces.

They continued their way towards the center of the town where most of the people gathered there as it was the place where shops and stores are mostly present. The sun continued to shine throughout the day as it finally went past above them, indicating the start of noon. Carriages run past by them, carrying loads of foods and other things that are being delivered to one place to another.

Children ran around in circles at the streets as they played tag to each other getting the smaller figure to smile in glee.

"Ne... Can I play with them?" The smaller figure asked the other one only to give him a light pat on his head before speaking.

"We need to eat food first... Aren't you hungry after all that trip?" The taller figure giggled at his outgoing behavior.

Well, it can't be helped though. This is first time setting off foot into a foreign town so everything is pretty much knew to them at least for the smaller one. The other figure somehow could get the grasp of what goes around even in just at first glance on it, making her to be the one responsible for the two of them as they go along their trip to the town.

"Well, I don't think so... I still had a lot of energy to play right?" He tried to sound bright and energetic but a loud grumble gave away his claim as he slightly clutched his stomach from where the disturbing sound emanated. Again, the taller figure giggled again as she proceeded to pat the boy's head with a warm smile on her face.

"See? You're really hungry now... Come on, let's get us something to eat..." She softly spoke getting the boy to pout at her suggestion.

"Okay..." He answered politely with a gloomy look on his face.

The taller figure noticed it and simply knelt down in front of him with a warm smile and patted his head once more for reassurance.

"Don't worry. You won't miss anything alright? We could go somewhere around town since we'll be doing a little exploring." She smiled getting the boy to smile once again and punch the air in triumph.

"Cool! I wanna see the cathedral later. Is that okay?" He asked with expectant eyes written all over his face.

The girl stood up and smiled back at him warmly.

"Sure."

..

..

..

They began to walk towards a nearby store and settled in for the two of them. The owner led them towards the table and simply handed out some menus before them. He smiled at the two before going back to the counter and tended to other newly-arrived customers. They settled their luggage just beside the table and began to choose from the menu.

The girl carefully looked through each of the menu's categories and gave it a careful thinking as she patiently took her time choosing her own desired food.

Meanwhile, the boy was having trouble choosing on his own and could not help but groan lightly, catching the girl's attention.

"Something wrong Raven?" The girl asked upon putting the menu down in front of her for a moment to help the boy.

The black-haired boy simply looked back at the girl across her with a slightly troubled look.

"I can't really choose anything because they're all look delicious to me." Raven sheepishly replied while scratching the back of his head. A small drool can be seen coming out from the corner of his mouth just by looking at the images of the foods in the menu.

"Don't be like that Raven... You know what mother reminded us back at the village right?" She reminded the hungry black-haired boy.

"Oh, yeah I remember! Sorry Mirai-nee..." He sincerely apologized as he took another brief look at the menu once again.

It took him only a few seconds to look at the food menu before closing it, indicating his decision.

"I guess, I could only go for some meat..." Raven spoke out sincerely before putting it down on the table. The girl, Mirai simply smiled at him before closing her own menu and finally called on the owner for their order.

The owner immediately went over to them with a note in hand as he began to write down their desired foods. After a few minutes of writing down their order, the owner simply smiled and shook his head before going back to fill out their orders. Mirai and Raven have finally settled and relaxed for awhile since they've been travelling by train for almost too long.

..

..

Everyone back at the village felt saddened since her mother and father decided to make up a plan to meet up with the mages who rescued them days back. And it was also their parents who were actually giving the exact opposite of the rest of the villagers' expressions. They could remember that time as they depart from the their home only to see them, cheering them on their journey.

What a pain really. Having those kinds of parents who weren't really taking the matter so seriously. Mirai could only sigh in thought about her parent's antics.

She wouldn't blame them though as she had no problem with their personalities since she and Raven have gotten used to it until now. Although, there are quite some cases where they go overboard with their goals and ideas that eventually led into a mess.

And now here she is, finally set out for their own journey to explore the world. This is one part of their parents' reasons for wishing them to explore outside the village. They wanted her and Raven to experience the new world ahead of them. To be able to see new things that will definitely help them adapt to the world with no difficulty.

Raven had no difficulty in adjusting his life from the village to the outside world. He always carry his carefree attitude such as now.

She was greatly thankful for it since she never seen him so bright and energetic. The world sure is an interesting place. A lot of things to be discovered and a lot of people to meet along their journey together. It was the next big step they needed to walk over and embrace the future that has in store for them.

A few minutes later, the owner came back with their orders in his hands and simply handed it down infront of them. Raven's hunger instantly turned on as the aroma of a perfectly grilled meat entered his nose, giving him the drool. Mirai looked back at the owner as she simply put up an appreciation for the food.

The owner simply bowed down once again in gratitude before going back to the counter.

The two simply began to eat their own food peacefully as Raven had dug his own utensils to the meat and began chomping on it like there was not tomorrow. His hunger probably overwhelmed him since arriving here at Magnolia. His thoughts are left forgotten as his mind focused on the food in front of him. His eyes sparkled out in delight of the deliciousness of the meat and Mirai could only sweatdrop at her little brother's current behavior.

"It's so (mumpf*)... delicious.." Raven complimented while chewing some of the meat again after swallowing the last one.

"Raven... You need to finish swallowing it first before talking okay?" Mirai softly reminded.

"Okay. Onee-chan!" He beamed happily as he nodded in response at his sister's suggestion.

Mirai however, looked down to her cake as simply sliced some to satiate her hunger and replenish her energy from their travels. Honestly, she needed some place to settle down for awhile since she had a hard time processing her thoughts at the moment. Everything just happens so fast that she cannot decide at each decision. With Raven in her care, she has to think about their well-being in the near future.

She lightly sighed in thought before looking down again at her food and began to eat until she heard a couple of murmurs from the other customers whom she was able to hear despite being far away from them.

"Hey bro. Did you hear?" A male person asked his other companion across him.

"What?"

"There's been an explosion near at Fairy Tail..."

"Ah, you mean the dorm just at the hill beside it. Yeah, I heard it. They say some unstable magic component suddenly went off. It happened a bit two days ago now..." He paused before placing a curious look on his face at his companion.

"...I'm surprised that you just heard by now. Everyone seems informed about it since it was loud enough for everyone to hear the explosion. I don't think it's just an explosion."

"What makes you say that?" The other asked.

"Like I said, it was very loud to be heard by all of the town... I seriously hope that no one is probably injured." He frowned.

Again, let it be known that one person suffered victim of that predicament. Not that anyone knows about it.

"Oh don't worry about it. It's Fairy Tail we're talking about here. Those mages really knows no bounds especially the Salamander." He chuckled.

"Oh yeah, Natsu Dragneel? How many houses did he brought down this month?"

Mirai's eyebrow quirked at the mention of the familiar name as she slowly gazed over the two men discussing it with each other. She momentarily stopped eating her food before motioning herself to eavesdrop discreetly at the two who continued their conversation once again about the fire dragonslayer.

"Who knows? But I gotta hand it to that guild for having themselves to be able to keep him from exploding the whole Fiore." The man suddenly laughed at the topic with the other following him as they seemingly joked upon the pinkette's explosive nature.

However for Mirai, she simply backed away and returned her gaze on the half-eaten cake before thinking deeply at the thought of the person. Raven was still eating on his own food without any care from the events around him.

...

...

...

 _'So he is here...'_

* * *

 ** _Natsu and Happy's house (Noon time...)_**

...

"When are you going to come out from your hammock Natsu?" Happy lazily asked from the table facing the occupied hammock in front of him by a resting pink-haired dragonslayer.

The said dragonslayer was simply lying down with a blank look on his face, seemingly unsure of what to do.

He was patiently waiting for him to get off and go already to the guild with him but for some reason, his partner doesn't want to go out just yet. Well, after what happened back at the dorm two days back to which the blue Exceed didn't know of, Natsu decided to come out from the house in the noon to cool it off for a bit.

Well, whatever it is, he didn't like the fact of his partner lazing around the house for quite some time. He knew that Natsu was always hardworking to get stronger and fight S-Class mages like Erza, Laxus, Mira or even Gildarts. Though he would be pummeled easily by the last latter even though he tried hard in working out with his magic capabilities.

That man has one hell of a back swing. Well at least, he managed to put him off from his current position back at Tenrou. Not everyone is strong enough to push the mighty Crash mage.

Then yet again, his objective at that time was too shallow since he just wanted to prove that he can push him off just a bit instead of defeating him.

...

Happy simply sighed as he received no such answer from his partner which totally unusual for him. He needed to act this instant to avoid any changes from his partner's mind.

"Natsu... ...Come on. Let's go fishing already or even take a job with the team." He asked once again but with a more pleading voice as he flew into the hammock and tried to lift the sulking dragonslayer resting in it.

Natsu however, simply held on to his grip on the hammock as his expression turned that of a horrified expression as he faced the door before him. He's gripped the hammock tight like some scared cat avoiding a cold bath as it would seemed like he wasn't going outside no matter what happens.

"NO! I won't go out!"

"Why?"

"Not until Erza and Mira are gone by at the DOOR!" He fiercely shouted, intending the two female mages who were supposedly outside at the door trying to get through with a gentle knock.

"Natsu please come out. We just want to talk..." Mirajane managed to speak from the other side of the door, having to hear his voice.

"Yeah. We just wanted to know why you're coming inside the guild this late. You've been avoiding us since then and we're worried." Erza followed soon after Mirajane with a hint of sadness at the edge of her voice.

"Come on, Natsu. What's wrong with not going with them. They just said that they have something to talk to you in private." Happy complained about the dragonslayer's reasons.

"Hell no!" He comically denied at his Exceed's claim before retreating back to a corner with trembling shakes from his body.

"...They are monsters alright? Never trust them Happy. They're tricking me to go outside." Natsu blurted out only to jolt in surprise together with the Exceed as the door suddenly took a loud and banging sound.

"HEY! WE'RE NOT MONSTERS NATSU! OPEN UP!" Mirajane and Erza shouted in unison after able to hear their conversation from the inside. Their tone had slightly changed that of an annoyed one after hearing his depiction to them.

"Never!" He adamantly refused as the knocking finally stopped.

..

..

Natsu and Happy simply blinked their eyes for a second at the door as they seemingly stopped knocking fiercely at it which gave them the silence.

For a moment, he would consider that as a sign that the two S-Class mages finally giving up on talking to him. Though, Happy however stood there utterly shocked as his face paled from the words of denial said earlier by his pseudo-father.

 _'Did he just defied Erza and Mira?'_

Never in his life he had to witness Natsu to be able to stand up against the two females with determination. Well, he would be soon giving him some flowers for his supposed grave as the door suddenly blasted open with a seething Erza and a glowing Mirajane coming into view. Natsu and Happy hugged each other for dear life as they shrieked in horror of the sight before them. The scarlet knight made some loud sound cracks from her iron clad arms while Mirajane was simply smiling with her usual demonic smile that gave him the chills through out his spine.

He backed away together with his Exceed as Erza and Mira slowly approached to him.

"H-Hi Erza , Mira... N-Nice morning we have right?"

"It's already noon Natsu..." Happy whispered at his dragonslayer's mistake.

"Oh, uhh. Good noon?" He simply corrected his greeting towards the two although he knew that they're well beyond pleasantries.

 **"Natsu... What did you just say earlier?"** Erza and Mirajane spoke venomously, giving him the sweats all over his body just from the tone of their voices.

"I-I... Uhh..." He stuttered as he can't come up of any excuse for his actions and could not help but to cower in fear.

Well shit. He just clicked the wrong button in pissing the two female mages even further. He gulped nervously as he's being glared down by the two female mages with their auras bursting out from their magic, swaying their hairs upwards due to its intensity. In any moment, he would be sent flying high above the skies with these two.

Well, if it's come to this then he'll have to resort to his own plans of escape.

"Happy! Let's go!" Natsu ordered fiercely, getting the Exceed to nod briefly before carrying his partner at the back of his collar and began to fly to nearest window.

"Aye! Sir!"

..

..

The pinkette coated his fist on fire and punched the window, breaking its glasses in the process and granting them an escape opportunity against from the two S-Class mages. And in just seconds, they finally flew away from his house and into the skies.

Mirajane and Erza widen their eyes in shock at the fire dragonslayer's action and began to glare again to the fleeing duo before using up their magics to catch up to them. And in just an instant, the two female S-Class mages are already up in the air with Mira in her Satan Soul and Erza in her Flight Armor. They locked their eyes solely on the two who instantly shot up a big jolt of fright at their presence.

"Natsu! You're not getting away. Face me like a man."

"Oh Natsu! Just come back to me and talk about what happened a few days back..."

The two females gave him another word of reason only to be brushed away with the fire dragonslayer as he flailed his arms in denial.

"No way! You'll kill me both!" Natsu whimpered.

"We're not killing you. We just wanted to talk to you..." Erza reasoned.

"If it's about Sara. It's an accident! I don't really meant on staying at the dorm. I just accompanied her since she's sick."

"We know about it. That's why we wanted to talk peacefully. We're not gonna hurt you."

"Then why are you two on your magics? Definitely something fishy about it." Natsu pointed out their transformations.

"Where's the fish Natsu? I'm really hungry." Happy suddenly butted in upon hearing a familiar word from their conversation to which the three find it senseless and simply ignored his comment.

"You're getting away from us that's why." Erza reasoned.

"Then why is Mira charging up some weird dark ball pointed at me?" He asked before pointing his finger at the demon barmaid. Erza had to turn back to her companion, only to have her jaw dropped to the ground in disbelief as she really saw Mirajane charging a dark ball with a devilish smirk coming out from her lips like it was very intent on the kill.

Seeing her like that made Natsu and Happy to gulp in nervousness at the devious barmaid who suddenly let out a sadistic chuckle.

"Fufufu... Don't run away from me Natsu. You're mine!" Mirajane spoke seductively while locking her eyes only at the pinkette.

"HEY! Mirajane. I thought we agreed on this." Erza tried to remind the demon barmaid but the two partners manage to hear what she just said.

..

..

"WHAT DEAL ARE YOU TWO GOING ON ABOUT?!"

"Fufufu... You'll soon find out my Natsu~" Mirajane answered with a hint of seduction on her voice that gave the pinkette more shivers than he ever could.

"Mirajane! If you talk to him like that. He'll run away." The scarlet knight began to glare at the white-haired barmaid with intimidating eyes.

"I can whatever I want Red... I can choose whatever I want when approaching him so stay away." The Take-Over mage retorted back.

"So you wanna play it like that... Then I won't lose either." Erza said with finality on her voice before glaring back at the duo who was watching them for some quite some time now.

...

"O-Oi! Wait a minute... A minute ago you two were trying to reason with me and now you two are definitely taking this some type of game with me involved. What the hell do you want?" Natsu spoke for confirmation only to be pointed a sword from the scarlet knight who wore a determined expression.

"Shut up and come to me Natsu." Erza spoke.

"Don't trust that armored bitch. Come to me Natsu. You like me right?" Mirajane pleaded like an innocent tone despite in her Satan Soul form which Natsu and Happy find it unusual.

The two partners simply stood there with blank looks on their faces especially for the fire dragonslayer who somehow rubbed his head in depression.

 _'Sigh*... How did it come to this? Well fuck this!'_

He didn't know and he didn't care anymore. All he knows is that if when he stayed too long with these two, he's never gonna survive. Prompting a discreet signal from his Exceed who immediately responded by it, the duo flew away with Happy's Max Speed with Erza and Mira tailing behind them as they took off.

"You're not getting away Natsu!" Erza and Mira shouted in unison as they chased the two in the air.

And it was then, Natsu and Happy wore the most desperate looks on their faces.

"SOMEBODY HELP US!"

* * *

 ** _A few minutes later... (Road towards Fairy Tail in Magnolia...)_**

...

"I thought I was gonna die..." Natsu groaned as he simply walked his way towards the guild with Happy resting on his head from the predicament earlier.

"We already told you that we just wanted to talk alright?" Erza spoke on his left who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"But you two were chasing me. You could've just said it by the door earlier." He whined only to get an intimate response from the barmaid who was walking beside his right.

"Ara, ara. That doesn't go around here Natsu. We apologize in a more suitable way when it comes to you..." She smiled warmly.

"I don't get it." Natsu grumbled while crossing his arms in depression with his blue Exceed still resting atop of his head.

It would seemed like that the two females simply just wanted to apologize about blasting him away from Sara's room two days prior. It only took a day after that for them to be able to clear the misunderstanding between them and that led the two to stop by at his house to apologize about their actions.

But that doesn't mean they have to chase all around Magnolia right? I mean, they could've just said it right into his face instead of flying down towards with faces with the intent to kill. Heck, Happy lost his appetite to go fishing because of it which greatly shocks him.

And now, all he did was to sit on top of his head as usual and rest there... Well, at least he'll keep him company aside from the two girls beside him, walking together towards the guild.

"So... why are you two here beside me?" He decided to ask as he found the two female mages walking beside him on both sides. They're both clinging to each one of his arms as if they're walking altogether with him.

Mirajane simply smiled softly at the confused dragonslayer as she looked at him before replying.

"We wanted to be escorted by a gentleman. For me, you're my only gentleman out there." She spoke only to get Natsu to tilt his head in confusion at her words.

"Gentleman? Me?" He pointed himself for confirmation to which the white-haired barmaid nodded in response with a blushing face.

However, Erza noticed their conversation and decided to intervene.

"Mira... No flirting right?" She reminded with a slight irritation written on her face.

"It's nothing flirting Erza. You're just not good in enticing men despite your looks. So stony and fierce at the same time." She teased only to get the redhead to seethe in anger.

The fire dragonslayer was able to catch up to their conversation and decided to speak.

"That's not true... Erza is attractive and such. She's very strong too and I admire her because of that." He answered softly, unaware that he managed to get the said mage to blush deeply at the compliment who simply looked sideways with uncertainty. Her face was suddenly overwhelmed with a tinge of red color that matched her hair as she tried to keep herself composed.

"W-W-What are you talking about? S-Saying things to me so suddenly..." She stuttered with a flustered face before looking back to him briefly then quickly looking away in embarrassment.

"What's wrong with that?" He asked but his attention reverted back to the barmaid who tugged his clothes, wearing a cute pout on her face that would make anyone fall for her so easily.

..

..

"What's wrong Mira?"

"What about me? Do I have something to be worth complimented for?" She asked worriedly.

"What else to be worth complimenting for you when I already see you as a beautiful girl... Not to mention, you're a great cook. I like all your foods Mira." He answered warmly with a toothy grin on his face without having any careful thinking of what he just said. Well, he did answered them based on his perspective on the two. He freely expresses his point of view towards his friends and family without hesitation.

As a result of his carefree attitude towards others such as now, Mirajane blushed like the redhead with a flustered face. Her grip loosened as she looked to the sides, regaining her composure.

"Y-You think so?" She asked with anticipation on her eyes as she looked back at the pinkette despite her blushing face.

"Yeah..." He briefly answered with a warm smile at the barmaid which causes her to blush madly.

"N-Natsu... ... ...You're so charming!" Mirajane suddenly hugged the dragonslayer tightly at his neck, catching him by surprise at her actions. He staggered for a few seconds as he tried to adjust his own footing against her weigh after being tackled without expecting it.

"O-Okay... Mira, you're choking me!" Natsu yelped in pain as her hug grew tighter from his neck, giving some muffled words that seemed unclear for the two females though Erza noticed his discomfort while Mira feigned at his situation and continued to hug him affectionately.

"Hey Mira! You're choking him!" Erza shouted in alarm as she noticed that the barmaid has no means in letting go of her hug at the dragonslayer which made her slightly jealous on the inside despite her scolding.

"Hmm... I don't quite hear you..." She teased as she kept an innocent face towards the two, mainly at Erza.

"Get away from him already!"

"Why should I?"

"Because it's annoying."

"That doesn't make any sense. You snooze, you lose."

"You shameless barmaid!"

Then again, Natsu simply sighed as the two females began pulling his arms away from each other. At this rate, he won't be able to get to the guild with his two friends pulling his arms fiercely away from each other. He didn't mind the pain. Instead, he simply ignored it since he had no other choice.

Running away from them would result a high goose chase between predator and prey and he would be sure that he is the prey. Not to mention, that Happy's in no condition of fly away with him because he was resting.

Lucky Happy.

At least, you won't be able to suffer like this.

If this continues, he'll be sure that he'll lose both arms from the female S-Class mages who were growling at each other with each of them pulling his limbs apart. He didn't want it... He didn't want his death would be as gruesome as he would think it would. He has so much challenges he needed to complete in his life and being supposedly threatened by two aggressive female mages will prevent him from achieving those.

He sighed for the second time as he and the other two female mages trudged slowly on the path towards their guild.

"Happy... Am I gonna live?" He asked out on the blue although he won't get any response on the resting Exceed.

"Maybe..." Happy muttered.

...

...

...

After a few minutes of walking alongside each other, they finally made it to the guild with no casualties of course. Erza and Mirajane somehow made a temporary truce to give the fire dragonslayer some space and finally broke away from their pulling earlier much to his joy. He really needed his arms back for some quite time now.

They were just about the guild doors, stopping infront of it before taking a brief hesitation from the three as they looked at the doors before them.

"Ready to go inside?" Natsu asked the two females and his Exceed partner who only gave him a happy nod in response.

Nodding also in response from the three, Natsu finally opened the doors with Erza, Mirajane and Happy following him inside.

The guild was still peaceful with little to no fights happening at the center of the guild. People drank mugs and beer while others conversed with each others about things. Some people were doing arm wrestling with Elfman, though he always wins in the end since he has a buff body.

Natsu could've swore that the Take-Over mage always rants about being a man towards the other competitors who inevitably lost to him in the process. While some boys were offended, others took it as an inspiration.

Wow, he really had his own fanboys. Not that he cared about them.

His eyes fixated over the familiar group who were waiting at a nearby table near the counter for him. There he saw Wendy, Sara, Lucy and Charle patiently waiting at the table while conversing with each other to kill time.

He smiled upon seeing them and decided to call out to them with a happy grin on his face.

"Yo! Everyone!" His voice sounded through the halls, getting the four figures to turn over the source and widen their eyes in surprise.

"Natsu!" They all shouted in unison with a hint of happiness on their voices upon seeing their pinkette once again. He was making his way towards them with the three behind him when suddenly he was tackled once again by a familiar bluenette.

Wendy simply hugged the fire dragonslayer tightly in his stomach, therefore sending the two down to the ground due to the force of her tackle. She wore a comical crying face as she dug deep into his chest like a distressed child finally reuniting with her parent or something like that.

"Natsu! I'm sorry about what happened the other day. I didn't mean it!" She cried without letting go of her hold on the pinkette who took a moment to process of what she just said.

"It's okay Wendy. I know you didn't mean no harm. I'm not upset... I'm just glad that the situation has been cleared from any misunderstanding." He smiled warmly before patting her head gently and stroked some of her blue strands to reveal more of her face to him.

The sky dragonslayer simply looked back at him with a blushing face as she finally stopped crying and rubbed her eyes to wipe away its remaining tears before smiling back at him with a cute smile that somehow got the fire dragonslayer to lose his composure.

"Thank you Natsu." She spoke sincerely.

"S-Sure... You're welcome." Natsu stuttered as the two dragonslayers were seemingly left in a daze from looking at each other. Mira and the rest of the group were already eyeing them in suspicion.

"Hmmm... You two seemed pretty close more than ever..." Lucy remarked getting the the rest to nod at her comment. And at the same time, Natsu and Wendy broke away from each other with matching red faces.

"Aw... Wendy is acting so bold all of a sudden... I'm challenged." Mira sparkled her eyes in determination of having another love rival for her love with Natsu. Lucy could've mistaken her to be Juvia though, since she pretty resembled her attitude to that water mage.

"What's with the challenge between you guys? Can I join?" Natsu asked stupidly having not able to understand the whole conversation between girls.

His statement only made Happy to facepalm at him in shame as it was his first time doing it together with Lucy. Charle smirked discreetly while Sara giggled from the sides at his innocent answer while blushing. For the rest of other the girls, they simply looked sideways uncomfortably.

"You cannot join Natsu. It's a battle for girls only." Charle spoke for the group but Natsu's eyes flared in determination after hearing the word 'battle' in her statement.

"A battle? Come on, let me join. I wanna fight too. Erza, fight me!" Natsu pointed his finger on the blushing scarlet knight who simply gazed away from him and tried to deny.

"T-This is not a battle Natsu... " Erza reminded him.

"Then what is it then?"

"Nothing... It's better that you don't know..." Mira answered.

Natsu simply shrugged. He doesn't know why they don't want to tell him this battle they were talking about. He wanted to have some fight dammit. But he guessed that boys aren't allowed to join in their own battle. Thinking of a battle between Mira and Erza would be fun to watch.

 _'Wait... If they said about a battle, does that mean they've been already doing it like their usual argument against each other?'_

He sat down to their seats together with the group. He had to wonder though, does Wendy included in this battle of theirs too?

He quickly shoved the thought off as he can't possibly think her to be the one who would love fighting... She's too cute and innocent to be joining in with Erza and Mira.

Speaking of fighting, where the hell is the stripper? He looked around and saw no sign of a black-haired ice mage around the guild. Feeling that, he will get no answer from just observing around, he decided to ask his fellow friends.

"Have you seen Gray around? I haven't seen him quite enough over the past few days." He asked curiously at the girls who only looked at each other with unsure looks.

It would seem like that they do not carry some answers as well as him.

"Sorry Natsu, but I haven't seen him lately..." Wendy frowned.

"If you're looking for him, he just recently took a job early in the morning." Mira reminded after pondering about the certain ice-mage.

"When is he coming back?" Lucy asked.

"Maybe a two days from now... It's a simple job really. But he's kinda acting strange." The barmaid frowned in thought.

"How so?" Erza joined in with a tea in her hand.

"Well... he's been so silent about the job he took and it's kinda shocking for me that he didn't invite any of you from his jobs since you all were on the same team with him." After having to hear her reason, Natsu and the rest simply pondered for a moment about the ice-mage who's been out without them over the past few days.

Come to think of it, they really never seen much of his presence around the guild ever since coming back from the village. Natsu and Lucy looked at each other with concern as they're the first ones to witness his unusual change. They wanted to talk about it for the group but decided against it in order to prevent the others from worrying.

"Do you know why he's acting that way?" Erza inquired.

Mira simply shook her head disapprovingly with a frown written on her face.

"Don't worry... I'll ask him about it when he comes back." Natsu suddenly spoke, getting both of their attention back at him. For some reason, a smile crept its way through their lips even though it's just a simple statement from the pinkette.

Though simple yet promising. Natsu really goes out to give his all to fulfill all his deeds and actions without turning back against it. He finishes it towards the very end. Some may call it stubbornness while other think it as his perseverance. That's one of many things of that girls liked about him. He may not notice it but he's nature and actions attracted people around him like he's becoming as a part of their lives. May it be an enemy or an ally, he really digs his way to help them without having anything to return.

"Oh Natsu... You're so heroic and noble in those words... If I'm not careful with my heart, I might really fall for you wholly~" Mirajane suddenly cooed beside Natsu while giving him an affectionate hug that ticked a few girls around him, mainly Erza, Wendy and Sara.

A couple of guild members somehow heard what the barmaid said and could not help but smirk at the dragonslayer.

"Woah! Mira really meant it!"

"Lucky bastard..."

"I heard he still have Sara though... What a dirty man he is."

"No... He even got Erza and Wendy too. I heard it from the others."

..

..

"HEY!" Natsu retorted back to the other guild members with an irritation glare. What the hell are they talking about? And what was that sick rumor they've been talking about him?

Oh, he's really gonna find that person. He hated it when someone talks behind him with stupid rumors that would create misunderstandings between him and his friends. The mentioned girls simply blushed from the murmurs among their guild members but Erza maintained her composure and shot back a glare towards them who immediately shut up from speaking about them.

Works every time.

After silencing the whole group, they all went back in glaring at the barmaid who simply returned a sadistic smirk from her lips as she inched herself closer to him with her embrace. She's taunting them.

"M-Mira? What is it?" He asked upon seeing the barmaid close to his face.

"Say Natsu, do you remember the time when I last kissed you?"

"K-Kiss? When?" The girls jawdropped at the sudden revelation.

"I don't know Mira..." He answered innocently but she simply giggled before flicking her pinky just at his chin, making him blush in the process.

"Silly... I told you that my next kiss wouldn't be on the same place as your cheek right?" She clarified, getting the pinkette to briefly shake his head down to remember.

It took only a few seconds for him to remember before panicking as he found himself trapped from the barmaid embrace. Her face was already close to his and he knew that she's something he should be watching out for. Natsu stuttered as he tried to break free but Mirajane has no means of letting him go from her grasp as she slowly leaned on him for a kiss for his lips.

"Natsu~" She whispered as she suddenly blushed at her actions but she can't stop now.

The guild members are all looking at the two mages with matching red colors on their faces who were expecting something from them. Oh, this is gonna be good. And for some reason they flipped their tables infront of them like they were expecting something ominous after their kiss.

Wait what?

Natsu looked to them confusingly as they wore the same expressions of anticipation from the sight before them. They were all wearing glasses again like last time.

Then he connected the dots together as he gulped nervously after witnessing his assumptions. Behind Mirajane was Erza, glaring down on her with sparkling eyes of anger visible from her face.

 **"M-I-R-A-J-A-N-E!"**

Natsu sure needed some restroom right now as he almost crapped in his pants for being extremely scared at the voice of the frightening Titania.

"Ara, ara... Why do you interrupt our moment Erza?" Mirajane smiled as she looked back at the seething redhead. Wow, she sure knows how to stand up to Erza alone and what's more, she's not afraid of her. As expected of her former rival.

"Get you dirty hands off him!" The redhead fiercely swatted her arms towards the dragonslayer's face, sending him flying away from the two and crashing into a nearby table with some people who were short-fused in their patience.

 _'WHAT WAS HITTING ME FOR ERZA?!'_

...

...

Mirajane simply growled at the scarlet knight for pushing off her man away from her and simply stood up and butted heads together with her.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"You are my problem! I can't stand it!"

"You wanna go armored bitch?!"

"You're really asking it demon bitch!"

And in just like that, the two instantly donned their magical powers and began hovering themselves through the air inside the guild as both of their auras gave them again a terrifying chill down to their spines. Wendy and the rest of the team fortified their table with chairs and such and so does the others.

Meanwhile for Natsu, he got himself mixed up again with Gajeel and the other short-tempered people and began their own separate battle aside from Erza and Mirajane.

Lucy simply sighed before peering over the table to look the ensuing mayhem around her.

 _'Here we go again.'_

And the infamous guild brawl rolled again inside Fairy Tail as both mages began to ravage the entire guild halls with their magics. Tables are turned, chairs are thrown everywhere and people were thrown around like ragdolls. It's a raging battlefield out there.

Wendy and Sara were already panicking together with Happy while Charle simply sighed inwardly as she simply sat beside them drinking her milk without any knowledge of potentially thrown away by a flying body or sorts like that.

"W-What are we going to do? This is more serious than last time." Wendy cowered as she dodged her head from a flying chair. Sara came beside her watching the whole fight broke out.

"Survive?"

"I'll think I'll go with that Sara-san..."

...

...

Shouts and roars from the people in the fray reverberated the halls as the guild brawl continued to last with Erza and Mirajane as the main spotlight around it. Natsu and Gajeel were at each other's throats and began using their respective dragonslayer magics at each other. Other people joined in to fuel the fight.

"RAAAARRGGHHHH! ! ! !"

"OORRRAAAAAAHHHH! ! !"

Just as about they were about to beat each other simultaneously with their respective punches and kicks, two figures appeared at the open guild doors witnessing the whole fight between them broke out. One small figure beamed at the sight before him.

"Woah! So this is what a guild looks like." He remarked and at the same time, he stopped the guild brawl from just his statement. All contenders looked at the figures outside the door and simply jawdropped at the sight before them.

The smaller figure was a black-haired boy wearing a dark blue shirt with matching shorts on his lower clothing. He wore a pair of small slippers in his feet and he simply carried a small luggage that would seemed to contain his clothing and other necessary needs.

The other figure was an average height teenage woman wearing a light brown dress with its skirt reaching down to her knees. It was a plain dress with little designs plastered around it though the others were simply stunned at her appearance. She had a curvaceous body that easily enticed men just from looking at it. Her black hair simply swayed down from her back as the gentle winds of the outside blew towards her gracefully. Her dark brown eyes gaze themselves to the crowd. Her fair skin radiated slightly from the bright light of the sun outside the guild.

 _'A-An angel...'_ was the thought of the people who happened to see the teenage girl clearly from the guild doors.

However, a few faces from the Natsu's team recognized the two people at the door.

"M-Mirai? Raven?"

...

...

And in an instant, the boys once again ran towards the entrance of the guild and surrounded the two people with heart-shaped eyes visible on their faces. Natsu and some of the uninterested boys were left behind, dusting their clothes as they gazed back at the two people again.

Erza and the others jawdropped at their guildmates actions towards the two who were taken by surprise at the crowd greeting themselves one by one before them, mainly to the beautiful girl.

"Welcome!"

"What's your name missy?"

"Jackpot again! Yes!"

"Will you go out with me?"

..

Charle simply pondered in thought as she recalled something similar like this.

"This has happened before, not that I wanted to say it." She smirked at the wind dragonslayer who simply looked sideways, gazing away from the white Exceed.

Meanwhile, Mirai and Raven were having difficulty answering the crowd's questions as she tried to put up her hands in defense.

"I-I... P-Please... I can't.." She stuttered from the crowd before her and Raven.

"Hey! You're all upsetting my sister! Back off!" The black-haired boy snapped as he shouted on top of his lungs and caught all their attention to him.

..

..

"Who's this kid?" A random member commented on the little kid beside the girl.

"I'm not a kid!" Raven shouted in annoyance before kicking up the knee of the member who didn't even flinched at it.

"YOU MORONS! ! !" And in an instant Erza zoomed in with her Flight Armor and flew at the center of the crowd, landing near at the two siblings.

"Shit it's Erza!" They shouted out in disbelief as they both took a step back away from her as she summoned many deadly swords around her and pointed themselves among the crowd.

Mirai and Raven could only exclaim in surprise at the arrival of the familiar mage before them.

"Erza-san!"

"Hello Mirai, Raven... It's great to see you again." She smiled before lowering her sword from her hands while keeping the other swords pointing at the crowd.

"It's great to see you too. Thank you for your help earlier..." They both bowed in respect.

"It's no problem...I tend to keep them away if a new face shows up inside the guild.

..

"You know each other Erza?" A random member from the crowd blurted out after seeing their friendly conversation.

"Yes. She was a friend and an acquaintance from one of our previous jobs in the team..." She explained before lowering her weapons finally against the crowd who simply looked at the two people in surprise.

"...So you people better behave or else." Erza finished before summoning a dagger from her hand and threatened the crowd who immediately nodded in response. The scarlet knight then began to lead the two with the crowd behind them towards the guild halls. Mirai and Raven were slightly shocked to see its broken state mainly because of the recent brawl fight earlier.

They also carried their luggage together with them as they slowly walked at the center.

Their faces brighten up from the sight of the rest of the group who simply waved back at them with the same expression on their faces.

"Mirai! Raven!" Wendy called out in glee.

"Wendy-san! Sara-san!" Mirai waved her arms brightly at the sight of the bluenette together with the blonde dragonslayer.

The two made it to the group who sat down across from them. The rest of the crowd broke away and returned to their seats while keeping an eye on the newcomers. Shit, now they're very jealous of the males on the said team. They're so full of many beautiful girls right now. Not to mention, they consisted many powerful mages that also made them the strongest team in Fairy Tail.

Damn Gray and Natsu...

"Hey Mirai! It's been awhile!" Lucy beamed.

"Hello Lucy-san... It's really good to see you again.." Mirai smiled warmly at the celestial mage.

"Ara, ara... What a beautiful girl.." Mirajane's face popped out from behind with a gentle smile written on her face.

"I-It's Mirajane! From the Sorceress Weekly Magazine!" Raven pointed out a finger from the mentioned barmaid who simply smiled warmly at the boy.

"I'm surprised that you knew of me..."

"Mother was a fan from your pictures on the magazine. She always talked about it often with me..." He replied sheepishly.

"Really?" The boy could only nod in response.

"Now what brings you two here? I cannot seem to recall anything that gives you the reason to come a long way here from your village." Erza asked curiously at the two.

Mirai made an uncomfortable chuckle as she simply looked to the side which caught their attention while Raven simply smiled before nudging his older sister for support. She immediately blushed as she knew what her little brother meant about his support.

"W-Well, the thing is-" She was interrupted when a loud and startling sound erupted from the corner of the guild, prompting them to turn around to the source and saw Natsu and Gajeel butting their heads together and continued to glare at each other down.

"You bastard! That hurt!" Gajeel hissed.

"There's plenty more where that came from Iron-shit!" Natsu scoffed.

"You wanna go Salamander?!" The iron dragonslayer threatened but Natsu simply stood his ground without any ounce of fear on his face.

"Bring it on you piercing bastard!"

...

"Natsu-nii!" Those simple words resounded from the halls of the guild as Raven shouted in joy upon seeing the fire dragonslayer once again. In just an instant, Raven was already sprinting his way over to the pinkette who simply looked back at him with a int of confusion in his eyes.

"R-Raven? Gah!" He yelped as he was tackled for the second time of the day. He landed on his back as he looked at the black-haired boy hugging him.

"Hey Raven! It's been awhile." Natsu face softened as he gently patted the boy's head, leaving his beef with Gajeel forgotten.

"Oi! Don't ignore me Salamander!" The iron dragonslayer retorted but Natsu simply shot him a glare before looking back at the boy.

..

"I missed you Natsu-nii!"

"Yeah me too. How're you doing?" He asked, completely unaware of the eyes of his guild members fixated towards him.

"Natsu-nii? What the actual fuck is that?" They blurted out in disbelief of the word. They never thought that someone would actually call their idiotic dragonslayer like that. A brother is less likely to be called on him unless-

 _'Wait, does that mean, they're his long-lost family?'_ And with that thought alone, made the whole guild to panic inside as they ran in full circles. Some stood up from their seats and began to raise mugs in the air as if they were celebrating at something.

"SHIT NATSU IS BEING TAKEN BACK BY HIS REAL FAMILY! ! !"

"LET'S HOLD A CELEBRATION OF HIS DEPARTURE! ! !"

"REJOICE! ! !"

"Fuck you!" Natsu retorted at the shouts and cheers of his guild members. It was the complete opposite of what Natsu had been expecting.

Erza and Mirajane simply sweatdropped at the scene before them. They're really overreacting about it. Natsu simply ignored the cheers as he went back to the table where his team is. He caught sight of the black-haired girl and simply waved his arms to greet her.

"Yo! Mirai! It's been awhile." He grinned with his usual toothy grin which made the said girl to blush just from his words earlier.

Mirai hid her flustered face away from the others but Charle was able to notice as she decided to keep to herself at the moment before suspecting something else.

"I-It's been awhile Natsu-san..." She squeaked uncomfortably.

"It's good to see you too Mirai... So what brings you here?" He asked curiously with the whole group listening to the conversation their main question is being spoke by the fire dragonslayer.

But before Mirai could answer, Raven took her place as he beamed at the pinkette while slightly backing away with an innocent smile on his face.

"We're here to fulfill Mirai-nee's role as your fiancee..."

"Eh?"

.

.

.

.

Silence followed after Raven spoke their reason of coming through the guild. The girls' were utterly shocked as their faces paled, seemingly devoid of any color in it. The rest of the guild members celebrating behind them, stopped instantly as their eyes zoomed over the pinkette with shocks looks. Others floored out from depression while others fainted on the spot. Basically, the whole guild took a hit in the gut with so many different reasons.

Natsu, Mirai and Raven were the only ones left standing among the shocked people around them.

"What's wrong with the others?" Raven asked the two but they're simply as confused as him. They were hoping for someone to be able to recover first from the shock to explain to them.

A few seconds later, the whole guild roared back into life as the whole members inside made a very loud shout of disbelief at the pink-haired dragonslayer.

"WWWWHHHHAAAAATTTTT! ! ! ! !"

And in just a blink of the second, Natsu found himself dangling from the grasp of his fellow male members who were glaring at him with rage and irritation.

"You bastard! What does he mean by that?"

"First you take away, Sara and now, Mirai? What more can you take away from us?!"

"You damn womanizer! You're just like Gildarts!"

"Hey! I'm no different with that perverted geezer!" Natsu retorted only to be pushed back by their simultaneous roar of rage from the angry crowd.

"SHUT UP DUMBASS!"

"You wanna go you bastards?" Natsu threatened as he easily broke away from their grasp and coated his fists in flames as he faced the whole mob of angry men.

"DIE! ! !"

"Orryaaa!"

And with that, the battle between Natsu and all of the men inside began, leaving the stunned girls of the group behind from their tables. Raven was amazed as he continued to watch his favorite mage take out on mage after another with his dragon flames.

Erza recovered and just blushed heavily while trying to maintain her composure despite her flustered self.

"W-What do you mean fiancee?" She tried to ask as Wendy, Sara, Lucy and the two Exceeds followed her to answer the question.

"I-It's my mother's decision. I can't really deny since she really insisted. Raven seems to agree with it together with Father..." She frantically flailed her arms as she explained her reasons.

Honestly, she really didn't want to consider it but since most of her family agreed on this, she had no choice but to agree too. But a part of her was happy about it. She doesn't know why but a feeling crept into her heart about considering it. Not that everyone knows about it as she tried to hide it on her for the time being. The part of being Natsu's fiancee was the other half of their parents' reasons in deciding to let them explore the world.

She shook her head while trying to keep her blushing face from the others who were wearing worried looks.

"Ferrix and Hikari-san said that?" They all spoke in unison.

"Ara, ara... It's really nothing for us really. Don't worry I'll fill some tea for you two." Mirajane laughed uncomfortably as she reached out two cups and began to fill it out with a pitcher which she magically found out of nowhere. She forced a smile for the whole group though it was done poorly as they could easily see her discomfort of the situation before her.

"Umm... Mira-san... The tea is overflowing." Wendy pointed out the overflowing tea which prompted the barmaid to panic slightly and began to wipe it off with a rug.

"Oh, sorry about this. O-Oh don't worry, I'll makes sure you guys will have a proper welcome inside the guild okay?" Mirajane frantically spoke while stuttering as she still can't process everything right now. She took the spilled tea and went back to the counter, hitting herself between tables and walls as if she was blind to see what was in front of her.

Charle and Happy simply made a deadpanned expression towards the demon barmaid.

 _'She took it hard...'_

Meanwhile, the others were all ganging up on Natsu who simply sent them away with his magic only to encounter more angry males coming at him continuously thus prolonging their ongoing battle.

"S-So you two just came here because of that?" Erza cracked up another question to which Raven answered as he butted in with a bright smile on his face.

"Not all because of it. Kaa-san and Otou-san wanted us to explore the world outside the village and coming here was the first step of it."

For a moment, Erza and the other girls softened from the tenseness of their conversation. At least, they knew some reasons of why they came here but the other half of it was slightly unpleasant for them. The scarlet knight could only sigh at the situation before asking herself inwardly.

 _'How did it come to this?'_

...

...

...

With Mira out of commission and Natsu battling other people, it's becoming more of a disaster as they couldn't find anything to understand more of the situation. Everything really started just from their unexpected arrival to the guild. This is what Erza and the others feared if word gets out with Natsu becoming a fiance unknowingly in the guild.

Right now, they were literally looking at the result. It's gonna be pretty hard to let this predicament subside.

The girls slightly twitched in irritation as they saw their master at the bar counter, hooting out cheers for the fire dragonslayer for being able to bring another sexy girl inside the guild. He's drunk by the way.

Again, they all sighed in depression. They ignored the fight around them as they decided to ask something from the two Selverions.

"So where are you two actually staying?"

Hearing about the specific question, Mirai and Raven could only shook their head, wearing a light frown.

"We don't have one..." Raven muttered but was enough to be heard by them.

"Why is that?"

"Mother said about seeking help to Natsu-san but I think she's asking too much on that. I don't want to trouble him because of us." Mirai explained to which Erza and the others, sweatdropped at the reason.

 _'Oh she's really asking too much...'_

Man, that was one hell of a mother back at the village.

But aside from their mother's playful and careless decision to send them here without a home, they felt a little sympathetic for the two. They had no home to stay; they just went here to see them once again. Mirai noticed their saddened expression and decided to cheer them up.

"...U-Umm. You didn't have to worry about us. I may not be a mage but I can do some jobs at the town to help ourselves." She putted up a sad smile but it wasn't enough to cheer up the rest of the group.

"Mirai..." Wendy and Sara could only mutter her name as they saw through her sad smile.

"So is that why you're sad now?" A familiar voice resounded behind them, revealing a barely surviving Natsu who was slightly leaning against the table. The girls could only sweatdrop at his current condition.

Well, he did took on almost all of the members of the guild alone so it's pretty much expected. He was panting heavily as the background behind him revealed a trail of burned bodies of the males from his fight earlier. A weary toothy grin was seen plastered on his face.

"W-What do you mean Natsu-san?" Mirai tried to ask but the fire dragonslayer simply staggered and walked his way towards the black-haired Selverion. He smiled warmly that made her blush from it while others took a slight suspicion from it.

"If that's what's been weighing you down to stay here then stay with me at my house." Natsu grinned only to get the girls to jawdropped from his statement.

"W-W-What are you talking about Natsu? D-Do you even k-know what you're saying?" Erza stuttered as she tried to confirm his words.

"Yes... I really mean it..." He replied.

However, Mirai and Raven were greatly stunned at his suggestion.

"B-But-" Mirai tried to speak but Natsu simply replied back again.

"Don't worry. I don't mind. Plus, I don't really mind letting you two stay in my house with Happy." He grinned while looking back at the blue Exceed who was simply smiling at his suggestion.

"Aye! Mirai and Raven inside our house would be fun... I wanna catch fish with Raven too." He beamed.

Unaware for them, the girls already fainted on the spot except for Erza and Charle who was still awake from the situation before them. The white Exceed glanced around and saw strands of white hair near the bar counter and could not help but sigh. Erza was left unable to speak between the two as she had trouble processing everything on her mind.

It's just happens too damn fast.

"So what do you say?" Natsu proposed at the two siblings.

"Say yes Mirai... I want to live in Natsu-nii's house..." Raven tugged his sister's clothes, hoping for her to accept his offer. Mirai could not help but blush as her face was greatly tinted pink at her embarrassment.

"W-Well, if that's what you want then I'll accept your offer Natsu-san." She muttered getting Natsu to smile together with Raven.

"Cool! I can't wait to see your house Natsu-nii." Raven beamed in joy as he hugged the beaten dragonslayer.

"Sure..." Mirai and Happy could only smiled in satisfaction at the sight before them. They literally ignored the shocked and beaten people around them while Erza was utterly dumbfounded at the sudden change of events.

...

..

Among from the beaten piles of bodies from the center, a couple of surviving male members was able to mutter in irritation as they both cursed the fire dragonslayer under their breaths.

"D-Damn you Natsu... ..."

* * *

 **A/N: And there guys. We stop here but don't worry. There's still one more chapter for my second OC so look forward to it on the next chapter. And here it is guys for all of you expecting Mirai's appearance in this story. Hope ya like it.**

 **And since she's been introduced fully on the story, she'll be considered as one of the main female protagonists in the story. And probably the next harem candidate. I won't say that this is a Natsu x Mirai arc because she was recently brought up here but don't worry, I'll give her some spotlight in the later chapters. Plus, the next chapter still features her introduction so you can see more of her in it.**

 **So here's Mirai's biography. Probably the right time to put it here. ^^**

* * *

 **Name: Mirai Selverion**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Age: 18 (same as Sara and Wendy, considering the timeskips.)**

 **Mother: Hikari Selverion (28 yrs. old)**

 **Father: Ferrix Selverion (30 yrs. old)**

 **Sibling: Raven Selverion (13 yrs. old)**

 **Hobbies: Cooking, Household chores, Cleaning and all sorts of a typical housewife would do.**

 **Likes: Cooking, Vanilla cakes, Fairy Tail, etc.**

 **Dislikes: Seeing her friends hurt especially to Raven and Natsu, Badmouthing her friends, etc.**

 **Magic: None...**

 **Love Interest: Natsu (Fiance.)**

* * *

 **Now we're off to Raven :)**

* * *

 **Name: Raven Selverion**

 **Age: 13**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Mother: Hikari Selverion (28 yrs. old)**

 **Father: Ferrix Selverion (30 yrs. old)**

 **Sibling: Mirai Selverion (18 yrs. old)**

 **Hobbies: Playing like any other kid would do.**

 **Likes: Eating meat, Enjoying time together with his friends mainly to Natsu and Happy, etc.**

 **Dislikes: Seeing her sister hurt.**

 **Magic: None...**

 **That's about it guys. See ya on the next chapter :)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ...**


	17. Of Fiancees, Lovers and Mates

**A/N: Hello again my dear readers. Back again with another chapter hooray! This still features more about Mirai and Raven so look forward to it as they finally take a step towards Fairy Tail world with new friends to have fun with.**

 **Also I have an announcement guys. It's nothing serious really just a short reminder about replying back to your reviews on the story. It would seem like I can't see much of the recent reviews on the story so thanking to you guys will be difficult. I'd made some PM as a temporary method in replying back to you guys, I gotta thank my CP for notifying me so here goes for the answers that I can't reply right away.**

* * *

 **1.) _FireDragonSpider-Mane6 :_ Glad ya like it. And it's my second time replying back to you with the other via PM. I hope you'll understand that part. More will be revealed on the later chapters :D**

 **2.) _Draen (Guest):_ Sorry for not replying to your earlier reviews but I greatly thank you for supporting the story and many many thanks again xD**

 **3.) _DESguys 2.0:_ lol! I'm not bashing him too much. Blame his poor actions towards girls. xD**

 **Oh, and sorry for blowing your raspberry :( I didn't mean it.**

 **4.) _mateobrito _2_ :_ I will and thanks for your review ^^**

 **5.) _ treeofsakuras: _Glad you like it. And I already explained to you about the observation :) Sadly, you'll have to wait for more chapters for their final profiles okay? Thanks for your review ^^**

 **6.) _Gersus:_ Thank you! Natsu matures slightly even just a little bit over the course of the chapter so that he can't be all that stupid but then again, I tend to keep his nature as close as possible to prevent him from going too OOC. But his nature causes him to stir trouble with the girls so the chemistry is endless xD Typical harem ending? I dunno but anyway, thank you for your long review and opinion on the story. It really motivates me to write more. Hope I can meet up with your expectations together with the other readers as well.**

 **\- wiErD = Thank you guys for your support until now. I was happy about it really. You made me cry guys T_T...for giving your opinions on this story. The favs and follows had reached to 100! And there's a surprise again for every hundred of it. Yup, it's voting time again for your favorite girl to be featured at the end of the second arc but first let us finish the incoming major arc first before going again for another full circle with the girls' arc.**

 **sigh* - - I said too much. ZZzzzz...**

* * *

 **Here's chapter 17 guys :)**

 **Have Fun and Happy Reading ^^**

 **Disclaimer: So for the 17th time, I would never own FT and its characters. Just own my OCs, nothing more. Well, the plot is mine too except for the canonical events in the manga which is probably unused at the moment but I do hope to get there with this story too :)**

 **All goes to the great Hiro Mashima...**

* * *

 **\- Of Fiancees, Lovers and Mates -**

It was already night in Magnolia as the town was simply occupied with little to no people in the streets. Lights have been already put out except for the lacrima-powered streetlights that shone enough to help anyone to trudge along the dark path. The sky was once again shrouded by a blanket of darkness with shimmering stars that twinkle down beautifully at the earth itself. The moon was in its full form as its illuminating faint light shone through the night.

Near the outskirts of the town lies an isolated house in which is surrounded by plants and trees. A small barely recognizable road path leads from it to the main road. A poorly made sign was seen planted a few feet away from the house with the names of the residents are written there.

It was currently open as the lights inside were visible from the outside indicating the presence of people there.

Inside the house was Natsu and Happy together with Mirai and Raven who had just recently moved in with them after being offered by the fire dragonslayer. They settled their luggage just at the corners of the room and simply sat by at the sofa though Raven decided to have a look around the house and examine it.

His eyes caught sight of some different things that were seemingly placed on the wall. There he saw multiple job bulletins and requests that Natsu and Happy took together with the team and some souvenirs and memorable items in each specific jobs.

Raven could only gape in surprise as he read some of the requests written on it, mostly involving exterminations of bandits and dark mages. He finally saw a handwritten signature that spelled 'Salamander', pinned by a small dagger in the walls. He carefully observed it before looking back at the fire dragonslayer who walked over to the kitchen to prepare their dinner.

"So Natsu-nii, is Salamander the name that most people say about you?" He asked curiously to which Natsu responded briefly as he leaned over the wall to answer.

"Well, yeah. Most of them but I'd prefer being called Natsu by my friends and that signature over there was created by a fake Salamander so don't get the wrong idea." He reminded before pointing a spoon over to the pinned signature beside him.

"O-Okay..." Raven replied back before looking back to the decorated wall and scanned for more interesting jobs that the team simply took on. He soon called out for Happy who was resting on the sofa with his sister for guides about the jobs they took. The blue Exceed smiled wide and began to fly over the curious boy and began his guiding lessons about their previous completed jobs.

...

...

Mirai however, had noticed the fire dragonslayer was about to cook something. She simply stood up from the sofa leaving the two other residents to discuss their own matters as she went over the kitchen and saw him cutting some meat from the fridge.

"A-Ah. Can I help Natsu-san?" She spoke shyly while looking sideways, trying to avoid eye contact with the dragonslayer who simply gave a slight confused look on his face.

It only took a few seconds for him to analyze before smiling back at her warmly.

"Sure... I don't mind. Actually, I need some help too since I just started cooking food for ourselves." He reasoned as Mirai came by beside him.

"O-Okay." She spoke shyly before tying up her straight hair with a white ribbon that simply gave her a pony-tail that cascaded down to her back as she began taking out some food from the fridge.

Her eyes slightly widen in surprise at the abundance of meat preserved inside. There was no vegetables or any food other than meat in the fridge. She slightly sweatdropped at the sight as she scanned the fridge with her eyes to think of something to cook. She could only assume that they're meat lovers.

Natsu somehow noticed her reaction earlier and simply scratched the back of his head after remembering their usual food routines.

"Oh sorry about it. Happy and I were eating meat and fish all day so the fridge is quite occupied by most of it."

"O-Oh, it's nothing. It's just a little strange for me..." She muttered before closing it and looked back at the dragonslayer.

"How so?" He asked curiously.

"Do you and Happy just eat grilled fish and meat?" She asked.

"Well, yeah... We don't really know much of cooking other than grilling them up." He explained.

"I see. Well then, do you want some help in cooking other foods?" She offered only to get his eyes sparkle with delight.

"Of course, I want too." He beamed in joy at the black-haired girl with his usual toothy grin which somehow made her blush just from looking at it before looking back at the ingredients in front of them.

...

...

And with that, the two residents of the house began their own cooking as Natsu and Mirai shared their own insights of their food tastes that somehow led them to know more about each other while laughing at the same time. For Mirai, it was her first time to be able to converse freely with a male in a much longer time. She never really had too much male friends back at the village since Hikari and Ferrix were busy protecting her from them. Some fought for her hand but Ferrix didn't want them during that time.

They just wanted her to feel free for her decisions in life including her own choice of loving one with her whole heart. She didn't have any interest in it until now when she unknowingly met him. The first time they saw each other was the time where he had rescued her from the dark mages. It slightly baffled her for a moment until they had the time to finally introduce to each other for the first time.

It was then, her mother decided this whole fiance thing all by herself and entrusted it to the dragonslayer. She still having thoughts whether if Natsu was bothered by it or not.

She wanted to ask but decided against it since she doesn't want her moment with him to be ruined over such a small matter.

What matters right now is their time together, shared with each other.

Unaware for them, two heads peered discreetly from the corner of the wall with smirking faces as Happy and Raven simply giggled inwardly before going back to the sofa and set their thoughts about the two aside and proceeded back to their usual conversations.

..

..

After a few minutes of idle chatter within the residents inside, a knock on the door was heard by the four residents which prompted Happy and Raven to turn their attention at the door.

"Natsu... Someone's at the door.." Happy called out to the kitchen. The fire dragonslayer simply made a light sniff in the air and simply sighed in a few seconds before waving a lazy hand of approval from the blue Exceed.

"Let them in... Can't do anything else about it since they're all here." He spoke blankly before returning back to their cooking. However, Mirai slightly quirked her brow in question at the pink-haired dragonslayer.

"Them?"

Mirai still haven't gotten used to Natsu being a mage and all sorts like that. Sniffing people just from the scents seemed too surreal for her to understand. But in time, she will learn to cope with it since they are starting live together on the same roof.

The black-haired girl slightly blushed at the thought of having themselves settling in the house together with a person. Said person was her supposed fiance and she really had that kind of awkward feeling whenever she thinks about the subject to them.

This is also her first time living together with a male in her life in exception for her little brother since they're a family so she doesn't feel any discomfort in it.

She slightly glanced towards the fire dragonslayer who was eager to try out some new styles of food from her. A small smile escaped from her lips as she returned back to her own tasks and happily worked together with the pinkette in making their dinner.

..

..

..

Soon afterwards, Raven and Happy simply walked by at the door and opened it. They slightly widen their eyes in surprise as they saw Erza, Mirajane, Wendy, Sara and Charle outside the door. What are they doing here in this time of night? And most importantly, why did they come over here? Natsu didn't do anything wrong again right?

Happy was sure that the girls have their own separate homes so it's quite surprising for him to see them at the door.

After all what happened back at the guild, it would seemed likely for them to show up anytime sooner. He doesn't know the reason why but he had the feeling that the girls would involve themselves in this matter with the pinkette.

Hope that Natsu will overcome this. With the word about him having a secret fiancee inside the guild, he would likely have to deal with every other male, trying to beat him up for no good reason. At this rate, he might even surpass Gildarts' number of girlfriends in his lifetime. Not that he wanted to.

The dragonslayer has one hard skull. Cracking the surface will only lead him to more misunderstandings and sorts.

Raven simply exclaimed in surprise at the sight of his other friends.

"Everyone?! Good evening." Raven simply bowed down in respect as he greeted the girls before him. Erza and the others simply returned the gesture with the same greeting with smiles on their faces.

"Good evening Raven." The scarlet knight made the first greeting as the rest of the group simply passed a wave from their hands.

"What brings you all here" Happy asked curiously.

The girls simply looked at each other for a moment before glancing back at the raven-haired boy.

"We're here to observe Mirai." Erza spoke without any hint of authority in it.

"Observe my sister?" Raven tilted his head in confusion.

"Just to see if she's having no troubles in staying here." Mirajane replied.

"O-Okay... Though I doubt she'll have one here." Raven pondered in thought. Hearing his statement of denying their assumptions, the girls simply narrowed their eyes in suspicion at the boy.

"What do you mean?" They all asked in unison.

Happy and Raven simply giggled at each other before looking back at the female group with teasing smirks on their faces.

"It's because she and Natsu are having a nice warm atmosphere between them at the kitchen..."

For the two female dragonslayers, they would gritting their teeth in frustration since Natsu and Mirai would probably advance their relationship into a whole new level even though they just met. But the tend to keep it for themselves as they kept a composed face infront of the giggling residents. However, Erza and Mira were thinking something different at their statement.

Their eyes narrowed at the two as they began to suspect that something is very wrong about letting the two stay in Natsu and Happy's house. Knowing the blue Exceed, he would be rolling his tongue about the two everytime Natsu and Mirai got some time together for themselves. What's more the said girl was a self-proclaimed fiancee that would really take a blow to them.

Mirajane was able to recover from earlier but she can't stop her frustration as she bit unto her dress like a mad dog. She really wanted to do something about it but how? Erza and the others explained everything after recovering from the shock.

It would seem that Natsu really accepted the offer without having much of a careful thinking. Typical Natsu really. It didn't really surprise her when he actually accepted the offer since it mentioned something of befriending the girl.

Natsu was a honest person. Creating bonds and preserving friendships is his usual thing. He would instantly disregard any consequences just for the sake of befriending people. Heck, he even befriended some enemies one time like with Sting and Rogue as he managed to help them change their old ways done by their previous master. He didn't help much but he showed his beliefs and the strength of friendship during their battle.

He's just so kind towards others which is one of many things that she loved about him but at the same time, annoyed her in so many ways.

Thanks to his sincerity, he was easily fooled by some mother and pitted an engagement at him without really taking it into consideration. Hearing the word engagement made her blood boil so easily.

Wendy and Sara had the urge to take a step back as they saw the seething barmaid beside them, glaring at the door fiercely while gritting her teeth in irritation.

Yup, they don't need to ask.

As this was going on, Erza regained her composure and began to ask at the two.

"What do you mean nice and warm?"

"They're enjoying their time together... Natsu was happy and it would be a matter of time till he falls for her..." Happy answered with a hooted voice at the end of his sentence.

"You mean, they liiiikkkkeeee each other already?" Raven rolled his tongue in the same manner as Happy's usual impression that made the group to jawdropped at the statement.

They both just met and they were already trading their own respective trademarks at each other. Charle had the urge to facepalm herself at the influence.

That's when Erza and Mira got the tick mark. They immediately flared up in anger as they pulled the blue Exceed's cheeks of irritation, shocking him as well.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?" They spoke blankly in unison as their hairs are swaying upwards due to their ominous auras that scared Raven for the first time. He never really thought of Erza and Mirajane to be so scary. Their beautiful faces seemed to conceal those hidden persona all this time.

"Ow ow ow! You're pulling my cheeks!" Happy whined in pain as he tried to break away from the two, holding both of his cheeks.

"Erza, Mira. You should stop hurting Happy too much..." A weary voice emanated further into the room, prompting the people outside to look over the door, only to see Natsu wearing a brown apron which they assumed that he was actually using it from the kitchen. Though they find it strange for him to be wearing something like that inside.

"Natsu!" The girls simply exclaimed upon seeing the fire dragonslayer coming over to the door. Erza and Mira finally let go of the poor Exceed who checked his jaws if there's any dislocation from the wide pull. Those two females had monstrous strengths so breaking bones and dislocating other parts of the body would only spell as an accident for them.

"So... what are you guys doing here at this time of night? And are you really alright in getting up so quickly Mira? Last time I checked you took some really serious shock earlier." Natsu turned over to the barmaid who simply flailed her arms in denial.

"A-Ah... No, it's alright now. It's really nothing serious. I'm just so shocked for you to have a fiancee." She reasoned while keeping her blushing face that formed due to his concern.

The other three girls simply shrugged their shoulders. This is not the time to be acting all shy and romantic now is it? There are more pressing problems needed to be answered right away. But a small part of them wanted to be in the same position as Mirajane.

.

.

.

They really can't resist now do they? Well whatever, moving on.

"Well, things happened back at the village but I don't really mind about it." Natsu made his usual toothy grin that made the girls to put up a deadpanned expression on their faces at his statement.

 _'No... You should really mind about it.'_

"So what are you all five doing out here at my house? I didn't borrow anything from you right?" Natsu asked curiously before shifting his gaze towards the girls on at a time.

"We're here to observe you and Mirai for the time being."

"Huh?" Came the confused reply from the pinkette.

"We just wanted to make sure that Mirai get comfortable in your house since you're a boy. We also wanted to make sure that you don't do anything to her." And in an instant, Erza summoned a sword at her hand pointed it murderously at the fire dragonslayer who sweated nervously from his head and raised his hands in hopes of letting the threat slide down to show his innocent actions.

"...Do I make myself clear?" Erza spoke venomously which prompted the dragonslayer to answer back immediately.

"Y-Yes!" He repeatedly nodded his head in response which made Erza to soften herself towards the fire dragonslayer and requipped the sword back into her inventory. At the same time, Mirai came over to the door to see who's outside. She widen her eyes in surprise upon seeing the rest of the group and simply exclaimed at their presence in front of the house.

"Erza-san and everyone! What are you all doing here?" She asked.

"We're to visit you Mirai to help get accustomed in Natsu's house." Wendy and Sara beamed in joy getting Mirai to get a question mark hanging on her head.

"Eh?"

* * *

 ** _A few minutes later... (Inside the house...)_**

Erza, Mirajane, Wendy and Sara had to wait and sit around the sofa although the former stood up only for a few moments and began to tend over to Raven who was tugging her together with Happy to explain more of the jobs pinned to the walls. The scarlet knight was quite amazed on how Natsu and Happy actually preserved some of their jobs taken together as a team. She took a brief glance over the pile of rubble that she somehow familiarized herself with that was left dangling on some pouch near the walls.

She slightly smiled at the fact as Natsu was able to take something out from back then where she and Natsu were imprisoned by the Council years back. She began to reminisce that time and just recently wondered on how much time had passed from that time until now.

For him to be able to take something that would remind him of his precious moments he had with his friends in every job, she could only wonder of how much Natsu treasures his memories in his heart.

But she had to ask though, what item did Natsu kept during the first job with Sara? She looked around the walls and saw nothing that would remind him of the said job. No rocks or any memorable item could be seen regarding of their first job as a team with Sara.

She wanted to ask but she'll have to set it aside for awhile since the atmosphere between them as a group was warm and uplifting for some reason as he looked over to Mirai happily conversing with Wendy and Sara. Raven and Happy were goofing around the room with the latter carrying the former in the air and flew around the room in circles. Needless to say, it was quite amusing to see Raven in his happy moments. It was cute.

She slightly twitched her brow in irritation as she managed to catch a sight of the sneaking barmaid trying make her way to the kitchen without anyone's knowledge.

And just in time, she grabbed the back of her clothes and glared back at her.

"What are you doing Mira?" Erza asked curiously with her tone laced with poison.

"Ara, ara... I'm just trying to help Natsu on the cooking since he's been all alone doing it." She replied innocently but the scarlet knight knew she was lying so she had to drag the barmaid away from the kitchen to which made the other girls from the living room to sweatdrop at the sight.

..

..

"They're not fighting here aren't they?" Wendy tried to ask for confirmation.

"I hope they don't... Nothing would be left in this house if they did." Sara replied back with a worried expression as they watched the two female S-Class mages went into a girly fight with one of them yanking the hair of the other which they probably seen it firsthand.

As this was going on, Mirai suddenly remembered her task at hand and went back to the kitchen, leaving the whole group once again. She looked over the kitchen and saw Natsu heating up the sliced meat in the pan with his flaming hand. She completely forgot about the fact that Natsu was a fire mage so heating things up can be quite useful in terms of cooking.

"Yo! Did they fight again? Erza and Mira I mean..." Natsu spoke upon seeing her return to the kitchen only to nod in response at his question.

"Do they always fight like that? I never seen someone as composed as Erza-san to be easily dragged into a fight." She pondered.

"Well it just happened recently. They used to fight around when they were kids but I don't know why they brought back their rivalry at this time. It kinda bothers me really." Natsu slightly frowned in though that caused the black-haired girl to look back at him with concern.

Let it be known again, that he is the sole reason why the two female mages restarted their rivalry against each other as he doesn't know it yet. Leave it to Natsu, he's too dense to notice everything around him which even caused some mishaps regarding girls which ended him getting beaten up as a result. Seriously, just when is he gonna notice it?

"...But I think it's not that bad." He continued while solemnly looked down to his hands.

"Why is that?"

"Well, everyone is having fun and Erza and Mira don't really mean no harm towards each other." He smiled before looking at the group who were watching the two S-Class mages fighting once again in the manner of wrestling and yanking each other's hair.

Mirai could somehow understand of what the pinkette had said about them and could only make a smile on her lips as she returned back to her task beside him and began finalizing their dinner.

..

..

After a few minutes of preparing the dinner for them, Natsu and Mirai both wiped off a small sweat from their foreheads as they smiled at each other for finishing their very first homemade dinner together. If one happens to see them together like that, they would remark about how romantic they can be. Sadly no one is able to observe them from behind which is a good thing for them both since they don't want another set mishaps coming up.

Let it stay on the guild and not in their house. At least, Natsu will be safe.

"Yosh, I think we finally done it... ...And it smells kinda delicious too." He complimented as the aroma of the food was picked up by his nose that gave him a slight drool from his mouth. Just as he was commenting about the food, the two both heard a loud grumble which seems to have emanated from the pinkette's belly.

They both looked at each other for a moment with blank looks on their faces before Natsu started petting his belly.

"Well, I guess cooking also made me more hungry than ever." He sheepishly replied with trying to hide his embarrassed face.

Mirai however, simply giggled at him after hearing all that startling sound from his stomach.

"Fufufu, that's why we had to cook in order to satisfy ourselves right?" She made a warm smile that somehow made the fire dragonslayer to blush at her and began to hide further his flustered look from her.

"Y-Yeah... W-Well then, shall we eat it then?" He asked while stuttering as he was in the middle of regaining his composure.

"I'll go tell the others..." She replied back before walking back to the living room and called the others for the dinner.

..

..

Upon hearing a call from Mirai, the group began to walk over to the kitchen with Raven still being held by Happy in mid-air. The table was set into four chairs respectively on both sides which Natsu and Happy had just recently bought on some other day with reasons unknown. The group could only gape in surprise at the number of foods presented to the table.

They were all meat but it was presented into many different types. Ranging from grilled meat to beef stews, the classification of them were vast as each of the aroma gives off a beautiful smell in each of their noses. Strangely enough, their mouths were already filled with small drools as they looked intently at the foods presented to them.

 _'Natsu and Mirai made all of them?!'_ They thought out in shock as they took a brief moment at the two and into the food again.

"So are we gonna stand here or what?" Natsu spoke, seemingly getting the whole group out from their trance except for Happy who was drooling very bad at the food before him.

"O-Oh... Yeah right. Let's eat then." Wendy somehow stuttered before taking a sit at the left corner of the table. Sara soon followed with Raven who took the next sit beside Wendy while the two Exceeds shared the last sit on the other end beside Raven.

Now that leaves, Natsu, Erza, Mira and Mirai to take the other side of the seats. For some reason, both Erza and Mira were hesitating to sit at the chairs as if they were waiting someone else to sit first.

Natsu looked back at the two mages with a confused look.

"Aren't you two going to eat?"

"You go first Natsu..." They simultaneously replied.

"Why me?"

"Just do it!" They shouted getting him to respond quickly before taking a sit at the second chair near the middle. And in a blink of a second, Erza and Mirajane vanished from their previous positions and made a silver and scarlet blur respectively as they found themselves sat beside the dragonslayer on both sides, shocking the whole group.

 _'Those two aren't letting it up...'_

Mirai simply took the last seat on the corner beside Erza, facing Raven and the two Exceeds across the table.

"Let's eat everyone!" Natsu cheerily spoke as the rest of the group simply responded with a happy expression on their faces.

The group finally took their utensils and simply picked their desired food on the table and placed it onto their plates. They both took a small bite from the food and simultaneously placed it in their mouths to identify its taste. They chewed on it for a few seconds until-

Their eyes suddenly widen in surprise as they looked back at the food in complete utter shock. Soon after, their eyes instantly turned into sparkles that showed their delight on the food. Erza and Mira were simply shocked as they tasted such a delicious food like this.

"I-It's delicious!" Wendy complimented as she took another small bite from her chosen food and enjoyed it again.

"A-Amazing..." Sara simply spoke out in surprise as she looked back at the black-haired girl with a hint of envy from her eyes.

"I gotta admit, this was very good." Erza muttered before examining the food to learn its contents. It was her first time tasting this kind of food since she's been eating strawberry cakes before. This could probably rival that of her cake as well but of course, she would still choose her cake over this.

"That's Mira-nee for you!" Raven said proudly.

"Did you make all of this?" Charle asked before glancing towards the black-haired girl across her who simply looked sideways to hide her embarrassment from the others.

"I-It's nothing much, Natsu-san did all the work, I just helped a little." Mirai shyly replied with a tinge of pink on her cheeks as it showed her flustered side from the the others.

"I-I-I'm being challenged!" Mira spoke out in dismay as she found the food to be quite delicious on her account. She hate to admit it, but this really rivaled her own cooking skills.

In a long time, she dominated the role of being Natsu's personal cook since she's been giving out numerous amounts of his favorite meat, fish and other flaming foods in the past years. She normally used this to get his attention away from the other girls much to their irritation.

Food was Natsu's primary needs and his very first priority in life. He will undoubtedly accept any food presented to him without thinking much of the other thoughts inside his head. Mira was successful at this in various times and if anyone, managed to see her hidden intentions, they would called it a crime for manipulating the food-loving pinkette.

Wendy and Sara could only sweatdrop at the barmaid's statement and simply disregarded it. Again, they're not here to start a fight, they just wanted to check Mirai's condition in staying with Natsu though this was half-true.

"Don't mind her Mirai... She's just shocked again with your appearance and talents..." Erza spoke beside her with a reassuring pat on her shoulder.

"O-Okay..." Came the meekly reply from the older Selverion sibling.

Raven could only smile in relief at her sister. He'd knew her for a long time and he was glad that she didn't break anything from their cooking earlier since she was a very clumsy girl. In most occasions, she would literally lose her footing while carrying some dishes back at the village which always made Hikari and Ferrix to apologize the people of her clumsiness. At least, the villagers were able to tolerate it since her attitude and bright side always makes them feel alive.

Mirai has the heart of a very kind person and shows her kindness to all people around her which seemed to be the same as the fire dragonslayer though in a different way.

He was also glad that Mirai was starting to become more open to the others as he simply watched her sister freely conversed with Erza together Wendy and Sara who were reaching out from the corner of the table just to join in the conversation.

 _'Good for you Mirai-nee...'_

He smiled at the thought and simply went back to his own food and created a small eating contest with the blue Exceed beside him who instantly accepted and began chomping down their meat and fish respectively.

Natsu on the other hand was gnawing on some meat on his plate and simply swallowed it down in a matter of seconds before taking another one to his plate and resumed his eating process. Mira was looking discreetly at the dragonslayer after recovering from her light shock earlier. She was taking an opportunity to feed the dragonslayer.

After a few seconds of eating, Natsu finished his meat that gave Mirajane a chance to get closer.

"Here Natsu... Aaah~" Mirajane cooed as she reached out a spoon filled with meat from her beef stew coming over towards Natsu in a playful manner.

The pinkette was slightly surprised but understood what she was doing and decided to play along with it since he's been feeding like this by her numerous times when they're alone.

"Aaah~" He opened his mouth wide as the spoon entered inside it which prompted him to close it again and chew the meat inside. Mirajane pulled out the utensil back to her as Natsu continued to enjoy its taste. Her eyes are brimming with anticipation for his comment about it.

Then in just a moment, Natsu smiled as he looked back at the barmaid with his bright and warm grin that she knew all too well.

"Thank you Mira..." Natsu spoke.

She immediately blushed at the thankful response, only to get a glare from the girls except Mirai.

"Mirajane, what are you doing?" Erza suddenly spoke with an intimidating tone that made Natsu to jolt in fear as he found her glowing again in her ominous aura beside him.

"Feeding Natsu... Why?" Mirajane honestly answered but it only increased the tense between them again. Sara and the others are afraid of what might Erza would do afterwards. If they were reading the correct patterns, it would inevitably end with a heated argument and then into a full-scale battle again.

They narrowed their eyes towards the redhead who simply shadowed her expression after the reply, completely making them unaware of her incoming reaction.

This is not good.

..

..

..

In an instant, Erza then suddenly faced the barmaid with determined eyes as she began to take the fork from the older Strauss sibling instantly, shocking her in the process.

"That is not how you feed him Mira. It's like this." She spoke delightfully before forking another small meat from her plate and presented it to Natsu.

The rest of the group simply floored at her unusual action. It was completely unexpected for them as they all fell from their seats and came crashing down to the floor except Mirai who was innocently eating on her own while watching the three beside her in amusement.

 _'WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING?!'_

Natsu was quite unsure of what to say about her as he found himself being fed upon by two of his female friends with sparkling eyes, mainly at Erza who was expecting him to eat it.

"Here Natsu. Aaah~" Erza cooed in a playful manner that Natsu and the others found confusing and strange as hell apart from her usual stoic expression in front of everyone in the past few days.

Again, the fire dragonslayer was forced to play along as he happily accepted the food and took it form her spoon and chewed on it for a few seconds before swallowing. As soon as he was finished swallowing her presented food, he still saw her with sparkling eyes.

 _'Oh right, the compliment... Okay, here goes... ...'_

"T-Thanks Erza." He forced a stutter to make it seemed like he was completely flabbergasted at her actions.

He didn't know why they're acting like this towards him as if they're the ones who cooked it. It was Mirai he was supposed to be thanking for, though he'll have to shut up or he would not survive if he said that infront of them.

Upon mentioning her name, he simply looked to the very same corner of the table and saw Mirai happily smiling towards them before going back to eat her food peacefully. He simply smiled before returning back his gaze in front of the table.

Erza however, also blushed at his compliment and gave off a smug grin towards the barmaid who was pouting in irritation at the scarlet knight for her to be able to steal his attention in just a matter of seconds.

 _'It's my style... dammit!'_ Is what she thought.

Natsu noticed Mira's distaste of the current situation and could not help but ask worriedly.

"Something wrong Mira?"

"Nothing..." She looked away in irritation much to his confusion.

 _'I wonder what's wrong with her?'_ He thought inwardly as he looked at the pissed barmaid briefly before looking back to the rest of the group after remembering something.

"So remind me again of why are you guys here?" He stupidly asked as the whole looked back at him with a deadpanned expression. They expected it since they knew he wasn't the type of person who would remember anything they say in the last couple of minutes earlier.

Clearing her throat to clarify their reasons, Erza simply looked at him with a serious expression without any hints of her embarrassment or her flustered face earlier.

"We're here to make sure if Mirai is really comfortable to stay here with you." She then shifted her gaze towards the mentioned girl beside her who simply raised her head in response upon mentioning her name.

"Me?" She pointed herself with her fingers for confirmation.

A couple of heads nodded as Erza continued her explanation.

"We're just confirming your stay here. Do you feel uncomfortable around here because you were accommodated to stay here with a male?" As soon as she said that, all heads turned over to her, with the hopes of hearing her answer on the question. Mirai was slightly disturbed by the number eyes fixated on her but decided right away.

"Well, Raven seems to be enjoying his stay here in Natsu's house so I don't mind at all." She answered.

"We're talking about you Mirai... What do you feel when you're living here?" Mirajane asked.

"What do I feel?" Mirai muttered as those words simply struck her completely that left her unable to answer at the question.

That's right. It seems that she's been agreeing on their stay at Natsu's house just because of her little brother's happiness. She only accepted it because of his offer to him as she just can't simply deny it. Knowing him in the matter of a brief time, he would persist in letting them stay since he knows their problems and will undoubtedly try to help them seeing him to be the type off person who greatly cares for his friends.

For some reason, she felt quite light-headed as she thought about the dragonslayer alone, she doesn't know how to explain it but it seemed like her heart had started to beat fast with no good reason at all. During that time when he invited them to stay at his home, she felt quite happy inside though without the knowledge of everyone except her. It felt warm and secure as he simply reached out a helping hand to her when she and Raven were having a bit of trouble on their way. She was touched by his kind and heartwarming attitude that instantly led her to accept it without any second thought.

She didn't answered right away of what she feels at that time since she had no idea of what to say. It's quite difficult for her to sort out her feelings at one time.

And now, the question was laid before her to answer her feelings about it. Her cheeks suddenly went up and became tinges of red color that showed her embarrassment.

"I-I... d-don't know what to say..." She stuttered while trying to keep her shy tone which was done poorly as the group could easily see her flustered expression. Mirajane simply frowned at the answer.

It wasn't the kind of answer she was expecting but judging from her reaction, she would say that black-haired girl could be another love-rival. She hissed at the thought.

"...You know, you could always live in Fairy Hills if you want. At least you'll feel comfortable with the girls living there." She suggested.

"Hey! She never said she was uncomfortable here. Plus, I don't want to separate with Onee-chan." Raven butted in.

"Well, I'm sure Natsu will do something about it." The barmaid simply looked back towards the little boy. She was smiling innocently but everyone in the house knew she was hiding something behind that smile of hers.

"You're just trying to keep Mirai-nee away from Natsu-nii... Well you can't stop them because they're already engaged." Raven replied defiantly, only getting the whole group around him to jawdrop hard to the floor in complete utter shock.

 _'WHAT THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT?!'_

 _'Engaged?!'_

Mirai could only blush further at the statement while Natsu wore a still innocent look as he watched in confusion of the situation before him.

A twitching a brow can be seen on one of Mirajane's eyebrows as she found the kid to be quite annoying. Her smile was gone after the statement as it was instantly replaced with a pissed off look.

Oh, she's mad alright and Raven seemed to be standing his own ground with a defiant look on his face against the Demon that scared the shit of other adult men. He was also the first male kid that stood up against the demon from which many have been seen cowering instantly just from the scary glare of the Take-Over mage.

If Elfman would be here right now, he would respect the boy's bravery and even call him the manliest man of all.

"Hoh, you're one brave little kid, I give you that.." Mirajane smirked.

"I'M NOT A LITTLE KID! ! !" Raven shouted in anger.

Moments sooner, both Raven and Mirajane were glaring at each other as their heads butted together in an epic staring contest with both contestants were glaring at each other down. Natsu was astounded at Raven's attitude against the barmaid. It was his first time seeing someone defying Mirajane so easily without any hint of fear written in his face. He was sure that he was scared of Erza but why not on Mirajane as well.

He might have to give the boy a light pat on the back later after this.

Right now, no one sure knows what will happen if this continues so Erza decided to calm the two down by talking it out for them to which the two miraculously followed and settled down back to their seats again. Everyone breath a heavy sign of relief as the disaster was averted by the scarlet knight.

There really isn't a time where Natsu could spend his life in peace. The problem seemed to have made its way to his house too.

Oh, he hopes that the house doesn't get blown away if the real threat comes. He had to wonder though, why these things keep happening to him? It's not like he had a bad luck or anything right?

He sighed as he slowly looked over to the table and saw the scarcity of the food around it. It seemed like the food wasn't enough. But luckily he found an untouched beef stew from the corner of the table and tried reaching out for it and drool once again.

 _'Well whatever, I'll just leave them and enjoy this last food myself!'_

But before he could eat the stew, Erza interrupted him by her ironclad hand.

"What's up Erza?" He asked curiously.

"You cannot enjoy the whole food without putting any enhancement in it."

"What the hell do I need the enhancements for?" He deadpanned but he was ignored as Erza simply requipped something from her inventory and brought out a small violet bottle in her hand. She opened the lid and slightly poured a tiny droplet from it and mixed itself with the stew instantly turning it into a more reddish color. The aroma of the stew grew stronger than ever as he sniffed it.

"Whoa! It really is true! Thanks Erza!" Natsu smiled in delight as he took out a spoon to taste the enhanced stew for the first time.

He took the first taste as he sip the soup and waited for a few more seconds to find out its taste.

..

..

..

And in just an instant, Natsu's eyes went blank as his body became rigid and eventually fell to his seat. Basically, he went unconscious. Everyone heard the thud as they looked over the fallen pinkette with the spoon still on his stiffed hands. However Erza, simply gasped in surprise of what happened. She doesn't know what to do since she thought that the dragonslayer fainted out of its extreme deliciousness.

..

..

Really, is that how she really think?

"What's wrong with him?" Sara asked as she took out the spoon from his hands and looked over to the stew and decided to have a taste for herself since it smelled tasty on her nose.

She took the second sip of the stew only to become rigid too same as the fire dragonslayer. She went down to the floor with a lifeless face and a blank look on her eyes. Wendy yelped in fear as the wind dragonslayer suddenly fainted upon tasting it.

"KYA! SARA!" She screamed out in horror. Others simply looked at the suspicious stew and both took a spoon for themselves.

"Maybe it's because of this..." Mirajane locked her eyes on the stew as it gives off a strong aroma which stimulated her senses in tempting to have it a taste for herself. But Natsu and Sara seemed to have blacked out from it and won't said anything about it.

"Natsu-nii and Sara-nee are quite unreachable right now. I wonder what happened to them." Raven spoke under the table as he found himself beside the blacked out dragonslayer and tried to poke the pinkette's cheeks but there was no response. He stood up before looking over to the soup and tried to reach out his finger to have taste. Happy soon followed after him and both reached out to taste the stew.

"Wait-" Charle tried to stop him but she was too late as Raven and the blue Exceed took a taste from their fingers and rolled their eyes in identifying its flavor.

"Nothing seems wrong... ... ... ...it... ... was... ... delicious... ..." He spoke but a huge wave of stiffness washed over his body at his last statement and went down on top of the pinkette, seemingly passed out.

"A... ...Y... ...E" Happy put up a small thumbs-up before becoming stiff and went blank together with the rest.

"KYA! Raven!" This time Mirai comically cried out in horror as she went over to the passed out boy.

"There's definitely something wrong with this stew... What did you put there Erza?" She demanded, looking fiercely at the scarlet knight who was sitting at her seat and watched the whole scene unfold before her.

"I just poured some food enhancement on it. I think they liked it." She replied.

"HOW IS THAT LIKABLE?! THEY FAINTED FOR ISHGAR'S SAKE?!" Both Wendy and Mirajane together with Charle shouted in irritation towards the redhead.

"Is that so? I was sure I picked the right bottle-" She stopped as she began to read the title of the bottle she had.

It read: Trinity Paralytic Potion.

..

..

..

Yup I don't need to explain.

Erza only gave a blank look as she took a careful observation at the small bottle in hand.

"Aaaaaahhhh... ... I see. It was a potion." The scarlet knight only made a slow reaction of realizing her mistake.

"A what?"

"A paralytic potion specifically..." She explained.

"SAY WHAT?!" Both Mirajane and Wendy were already hanging their mouth open at the contents of the bottle. They heard it clearly, it was a paralytic potion. It merely took them a few seconds of understanding the condition of their unfortunate friends. They soon looked at each other with blank looks as they all looked back at the redhead who was scratching her head sheepishly for her mistake.

They all soon facepalmed at her in depression.

..

..

..

After a few minutes after the incident, Natsu and the others were able to recover from their previous conditions after being healed by Wendy. They all breath a sigh of relief after being able to see the world again. Everything else was totally black when he was passed out though he did quite dreamed some things. Erza soon apologized to which he easily dismissed it on his account since it was just an accident.

But they had to ask her though, why does she have a potion like that in her inventory? They couldn't think of any situation where Erza had to use the potion unless it was a capturing mission but they knew that Erza fights with brute force to capture her targets easily.

Whatever it is, they don't wanna know more about it. He was just glad that it was over.

"Are you feeling alright now Natsu?" Wendy asked worriedly as she came over to the dragonslayer who was sitting at the sofa to rest.

"I'm quite alright thanks to you... But I gotta be honest, I think saw something shimmering in my dreams like a paradise or something and it was calling out to me." He spoke out in thought only have himself tackled by the bluenette down to the ground as she cried comically in his arms.

"Waaaah! Don't say that Natsu... You're not dead yet."

"Whoa! Calm down... I'm not dead... I'm just talking about a flying meat in that paradise alright..." Natsu reasoned as Wendy looked at him with teary eyes.

"Really?"

"Of course, I'm not dead... Heck, I still have many things to do before that." He smiled as he simply patted the bluenette's head that slight made her blush at the gentle pat. Their intimate exchange however didn't go unchanged as eyes from certain girls are fixated on them especially for the barmaid.

He had to break away from the sky dragonslayer and sat up straight from the sofa as he tried to adjust his surroundings once again. The foods on the table were long gone as he saw Mirai at the kitchen, cleaning the dishes together with Sara. It seems that the dinner is already over before he even know it. Erza, Wendy and Mirajane were sitting beside him while Raven and Happy were sitting on the floor, waiting for him to wake up.

"So how long was I out?" He asked the bluenette beside him.

"Just a few minutes... We had to carry you back to the sofa and heal you here. Erza was making doing her work in keeping Mira-san from kissing you in his sleep."

A shiver of fright went over to his spine after mentioning the last part. At the same time, Mirajane clucked her tongue in irritation as she failed to do her work in kissing him because of the redhead.

Natsu completely forgot to lock his lips. Good thing Erza was there otherwise, he would've lost his first kiss to her. Not that he doesn't want to but because of the consequences that would sure come after that if it came into fruition. He can't really explain it but something tells him that everything will never be the same again if one of the girls kissed him unexpectedly.

There might be one thing for him to describe the outcome of it, bloodshed. Not by someone's blood but by a certain dragonslayer blood that would be seen spilling over to the guild. Natsu gulped nervously at the thought.

As soon as they were able to talk once again, Mirai and Sara came into view as they finished cleaning the dishes and the table recently and joined in with the group at the living room.

"How're you feeling Natsu-san?" Mirai asked worriedly at the pinkette.

"I think I'm fine now. You don't need to worry." He smiled.

"I'm glad..." She breath a huge sigh of relief as she began to smile back at the dragonslayer warmly.

"Still, I can't believe that Erza really put that thing on the food." Sara spoke as she placed his arms at her waist.

"Sorry, I didn't know that I requipped the wrong one. Please, if you may, I would like you to hit me of my mistakes." Erza suddenly stood up before bowing her head down before the wind dragonslayer who simply took a step back out of nervousness from the knight's actions.

"It's not necessary to do that anymore Erza-san." Sara spoke to dissuade her to which she simply followed soon after that. The rest of the group simply chuckled at the sight and then sooner broke into a laugh.

Then a few minutes, the group was happily enjoying their time with each other. Raven and Happy played with Charle, Sara and Wendy were talking with Mirai to know each other more while Erza and Mira were keeping up their glares at each other in the sidelines, arguing about who's better to be with the dragonslayer.

Honestly, when are they going to stop? It has become quite a habit for them and he was glad that it didn't escalate to a mage fight. Well, at least they're having fun with each other despite their harsh actions towards each other. For him, this was fine for now. He wanted it to be like this as his friends both enjoyed themselves bonding with each other.

He looked over to the Selverion siblings who were happily conversing with his other friends, and simply smiled in thought.

 _'I'm glad to have met you two...'_

.

.

.

A few hours passed as the night still continued and it's already getting late. Standing up from his feet, Natsu walked by to the door and opened it, catching the group's attention to him.

"What is it Natsu?" Mirajane asked curiously as she got out from her fight with the scarlet knight.

"Isn't it about time you guys go home? I mean, you already done what you all came for right?" He spoke.

He was expecting a lot of confusing heads but he only received a couple of giggles mainly to the girls at his statement.

"What's so funny?"

"We're not done yet observing Mirai... so we're all staying here for the night."

"HHHUUUUUUUHHHHH! ! ! !"

..

* * *

 ** _Natsu and Happy's house (Nighttime...)_**

..

"So how did it come to this?" Natsu spoke blankly as he initially found himself in the center of the room with a couple of mattresses laid down on it with a pair of pillows in each mattress. Everyone was in their nightwear and the girls were all wearing huge and happy smiles written on their faces. Even Happy was among the girls playing with them as Raven joined in.

"Don't be so upset now Natsu... It's our first time to be holding a sleepover to a guy's house. Is there a problem to it?" Mirajane appeared beside her wearing a light-purple nightwear with violet dots and stripes decorated around it. She held a white pillow on her hands as she sat down to Natsu who was still in his usual clothing.

"I should be the one asking you that Mira... What about Elfman and Lisanna?"

"Oh, I'm sure they understand. I'm just going tell them the reason tomorrow..." She smiled back before trying to lean again for a kiss on the cheek only to be interrupted by a certain scarlet knight.

"Mira... We're holding a sleepover and that is all you can do... Just how shameless are you?" Erza spoke out in a cold tone as she scolded the white-haired barmaid again.

Erza was wearing a light-red colored nightwear with small dotted hearts that decorated all around it similar that of the Take-Over mage except their colors.

"Ara, ara... It's not like I'm gonna attack him on his sleep now is it?" She smirked only giving the pinkette another shiver that went down to his spine just from the tone of her voice.

"You wouldn't dare..." Erza glared furiously.

"Who's stopping me?" Mirajane taunted.

"Shameless!"

"Stoic-faced redhead!"

"White-haired bitch!"

"Armored tsundere bitch!"

"I'm not a tsundere!"

"Yes you are!"

Oh, they can throw their insults for all he cares. As he began to think again of the current situation, he was pulled again by Wendy towards the others consisting, Sara, Happy, Raven and Charle. The group had seemingly formed a circle between them as Wendy dragged the dragonslayer with them.

"W-What's up Wendy?" Natsu asked as he found himself confused around him.

"We're playing..." She beamed in joy as she held his hand and pulled towards them. Natsu took a brief look on Wendy as she wore a sky-blue nightwear with large blue hearts decorated around it. He then looked at Sara who was wearing a light-green night wear with different shades of green stripes that decorated the very same dress itself.

"So where did you guys get some clothes?" He asked after being bothered of seeing the girls having their own set of clothes for the night without returning back to their own homes to get one.

"Erza handed out some spare night clothes for us. She also shared this mattresses so that it would fit enough people to sleep in it." Sara explained as she smiled at the puzzled dragonslayer.

"But why all stay here for the night? If you were just observing her on how she could get accustomed in my house, wouldn't you just send one person to observe her rather than inviting the whole group?" He innocently asked.

A couple of heads slightly pondered about that thought. It never really crossed their minds that time. Then again, they were slightly baffled by the fact that Natsu was able to think that way. Since they all see him as a stupid and dense person, it's quite strange for him to ask such questions.

However, Wendy and Sara simply dismissed the thought and looked back at the dragonslayer with warm smiles.

"That's not it works around here Natsu."

"I don't get you guys..." He simply pouted as the two dragonslayers simply giggled at him.

"So what game are we playing?" He asked.

"I'm glad you asked... Allow me to explain.." Happy sagely spoke as he sprouted his wings and landed infront of them with a pillow in hand. The blue Exceed simply took a deep breath only getting Charle to sweatdrop at his actions.

"...The game that we're about to play is... ... ...Pillow Fight!" Happy declared as he swung his paws with the pillow in hand and threw it furiously towards his pseudo-father. Natsu wasn't expecting a surprise attack from his Exceed as he was sent a few inches back from the force of the throw.

It was then that the rest of the group simply locked their eyes at each other and began to engage in an all-scale pillow war. Natsu recovered from his hit and simply smirked before picking the thrown pillow by his hand.

"Not bad Happy... Here I go!" Natsu shouted as he returned the favor as he sent the pillow back towards the blue Exceed who easily dodged it effortlessly.

"You have many more ways to go Natsu..." Happy mocked but was hit unexpectedly by a surprise attack from Raven who appeared behind him and threw his own pillow on the Exceed, sending him towards the wall.

"Stop talking and start throwing Happy!" Raven reminded before he engaged himself against the pinkette.

Erza and Mirajane stopped their bickering as the fight between the group broke out and seemingly smirked at each other before joining in the fray with their own set of pillows.

"I'M NOT GONNA LOSE!" They both shouted in unison as they threw their pillows towards the two female dragonslayers who simply made a counterattack towards them.

"Let's take them down Wendy..." Sara suggested.

"Yes!" Wendy answered briefly before locking their eyes at the female S-Class mages.

"I've never thought I'd see the day that we'd all fight at each other Wendy..." Erza remarked.

"I won't lose to you Erza-san..."

"Then so am I..."

The meaning behind their words is somehow different from their intentions on winning the pillow fight. It was more like winning for Natsu's affections if some may able to catch it. Sara and Mirajane did the same as both of them faced at each other in a stare down.

"Ara, ara... I'll win this for Natsu..." Mirajane smiled innocently.

"Sorry, but I won't just hand him over to you..." Sara smiled back with determination written on her face.

"Then let's settle this shall we?"

"Here I go!"

The two clashed again in an epic pillow fight as they fiercely threw pillows one after another with both sides not giving an inch. Charle could only watch the mayhem continued before her. She knew that this was just a game but she's getting the feeling that there's more to that simple word alone as she could see the determined faces of her friends including Wendy. The only ones who were taking this playfully as a game was Natsu, Happy and Raven.

Mirai soon walked over from the kitchen, only to see the ongoing pillow fight rages in front of her. She wore her plain, light-brown nightwear that she picked up from her luggage. She could only watch in amazement as her friends and her little brother fight it out to their very best.

"Oh my..." She exclaimed for a moment before giggling afterwards at the playful pillow fight.

This is really going to be fun from now on...

* * *

 _ **A couple of minutes passed... (Near midnight...)**_

The room was peacefully quiet. There were no more sounds that can be heard around it as the girls are all asleep on their respective mattresses. The pillow fight ended up exhausting most of them which eventually led them to fall asleep so easily as the night moved on to its course. The lights were out and the sounds of the wind blowing through the window silently reverberated inside the house.

Natsu can't sleep however, as he found himself pinned from the grasp of the two female S-Class mages sleeping beside him. Mira was holding hisleft arm while Erza on the other. Even though, he could see them sleeping peacefully, he can't seem to calm down since it was his first time sleeping with a bunch of girls in his house. The hammock was currently occupied as Raven and Happy peacefully slept there.

He can't really deny though since Raven wanted to try his hammock for the first time. Happy had somehow became attached with the black-haired boy in just a short time and eventually regarded him as his new friend and family since they are living on the same roof. The sofa was off limits too since Erza and Mirajane insisted on having him to sleep in the soft mattress. They said that they need him to be comfortable in his sleep so the mattress was a better choice.

Though right now, he wasn't able to feel comfortable at all. Sara and Wendy were sleeping on their own mattresses, hugging one pillow into their arms and peacefully slept in their own dreams.

 _'Ugh! I really can't sleep like this!'_ He screamed inwardly in frustration as he sweated nervously around him. At this rate, he won't be able to get himself a good sleep for tomorrow's work.

Wait a moment... Mirai was not in one of the girls sleeping in the mattresses.

Strange...

He looked around and eventually saw a open mattress with a open blanket beside it. It seemed like Mirai went off somewhere inside the house. He tried to pick her scent but he did not find them inside. Instead, it led him to the outside of the house.

 _'She went out?'_ He thought out in disbelief.

Why would she go out at this time of the night? He didn't waste any second as he silently pulled his arms away from the grasp of the female mages and sneakily went for the door leaving the sleeping group behind.

He traced her scent as it led him towards the side of his house. Wait what?

He stopped for a moment before sneaking towards the wall of his house and slightly peeked over to the side. He slowly widen his eyes in surprise to see Mirai sitting alone on the grass, looking solemnly towards the night sky. The winds lightly blew her black hair as it swayed from her back. Her dark brown eyes gazed at the sky, mainly to the moon in wonder.

"What are you doing at this time of the night?" Natsu suddenly came into view, shocking the black-haired girl in the process.

"N-Natsu-san...Why are you still awake?" She silently exclaimed to prevent the others from waking up.

"Well it's kinda hard to sleep when you're actually pinned by females on both sides." He explained as it was a matter-of-fact.

"I see..." She spoke before looking back to the sky once again, making him slightly confused.

She was currently sitting while hugging her knees and slightly slumped on the wall behind her. Natsu took a sit beside her and looked through sky again together with her. They didn't speak at each other for a moment as they simply enjoyed the scenery at the black sky with endless streams of shimmering stars visible around them.

"The night is so... ...alluring." She suddenly muttered.

"Huh?"

"I mean, it's beautiful don't you think?"

"W-Well I guess so.." He stuttered while moving on to their next conversation.

"So how's everyone? Are they fun to hang out with?" Natsu continued, getting her to look at him with a gentle smile on her face.

"Yep... It was very fun..."

"I see... I'm glad." He spoke until silence once again flooded the atmosphere between them.

Neither of the two had anything so say much between each other as they simply sat beside each other watching the whole sky. The illuminating light of the moon reflected from the lake waters that gave off tiny glimmers in front of them.

"Ne, Natsu.." Mirai suddenly asked, getting the pinkette to look at her quizzically.

"Hmm?"

"Do you feel uncomfortable with the whole fiance thing hanging on to you? I mean, my mother offered you that for my sake but you don't need to force yourself to fulfill that kind of wish..." She paused as Natsu simply listened to her.

"...I would really hate it if you're feeling quite troubled by it so... you don't need to be my fiance anymore. I'm quite happy from what I've been feeling right now and it's good enough for me Natsu." She finished.

This has been bothering her for quite sometime now. She really didn't want him to be burden in this kind of responsibility. She knew that he had accepted it due to the offer of befriending her. Plus, it was only an offer from her parents and they don't have the right to push that responsibility easily to him.

Her heart slightly felt light and comforted as the same time after finally saying that. If Natsu was happy then she's happy too. That thought alone can make her content as she deeply cared for him.

Natsu simply shadowed his face at her statement for a few seconds which made her difficult to know his current expression at the moment. The after a few more seconds of waiting for his answer, Natsu immediately hugged the older Selverion sibling gently with his arms, shocking her from the process.

"N-Natsu-san?" She squeaked as she found herself unable to break free from his embrace.

"What are you saying?" He suddenly spoke, getting her to stop her current actions.

"Eh?"

"If I turned down Hikari's offer then the only thing that reminds me of my precious moments of meeting you and Raven will be gone." He spoke, shocking Mirai to the core. What did he just say?

Mirai was left dumbfounded at his statement as Natsu let go of his own embrace and faced the black-haired girl with his warm smile.

"Do you see all the mementos I've kept in those walls? Those are special items that helped me remind the times I've spent with my friends and comrades. Even from Lucy first job together with Happy." He continued.

"With you being my fiancee reminds me that of our meeting Mirai and I won't just throw it away like that... Plus, I don't have anything to remind it except this." He solemnly spoke.

"B-But this is about your own feelings Natsu... An engagement is carried out with the genuine feelings of two persons. You can't just keep it just to remind you of our meeting. Even if you forgot I'll would've remembered it for you..." She tried to reason but was cut short when the pinkette began his own statement.

"Then I'll make it happen..."

"Eh?"

"I'll make sure to answer it to my own feelings as well." As soon as he said that, a blush suddenly went appearing on Mirai's cheeks as she felt herself being embarrassed about their conversation. He was actually proposing to her.

"W-W-What are you talking-" She was cut short again as Natsu held firm of her shoulders with determined eyes.

"It's like what Hikari said right? This whole fiance thing begins from forming our friendship together and making it stronger right? I will try my best Mirai... I will try it to my very best to befriend you and share precious moments with you so in the meantime, do you best also for me okay?" He finished, leaving her to be extremely shocked at his declaration to her.

She couldn't hide her blush from him as her face suddenly went red all of a sudden. Her heart had starting to beat rapidly in an uncontrollable manner which made her nervous.

 _'W-What is happening to me?'_ She thought out in disbelief. She never experienced anything like this before. For some reason, she felt extremely happy from the inside despite her flustered face. For him to be so straightforward in most things especially in declaring his proposal to him.

"I-I-I... d-dont... ... know what to say..." She stuttered as her flustered look prevented her from speaking in a coherent manner.

"You don't have to answer anything... For now, promise me that you'll do your best okay?"

"M-My best?" Natsu only nodded at her with a toothy grin.

"I'll try to be the most fianciest fiance for you in the future."

This man... he's so... ... ...warm and caring too much. So much that her feelings finally gave up and surrendered her heart to him. She couldn't hold it any longer. She really fell for this man. It's so strange... For her to be able to meet him again in a short time before falling in love with him at the same time.

She didn't care anymore.. What she really needs is to follow her own feelings as well.

A smile slowly made its way from Mirai's lips as her cheeks are still tinted red from her beating heart.

"Then, will you wait for me?" She muttered, getting the pinkette to take notice of her words from his ear.

"Huh?"

"Will you wait for me to the very end?" She spoke while showing her warm and angelic smile to the dragonslayer which made him to sightly blush from it before regaining his composure and simply smiled and nodded in response.

"Uuunn...I'll wait for you Mirai..." He answered which made the Selverion sibling to smile warmly at him and finally rested her head towards his shoulder to rest. Natsu simply let her lean into him as he looked at the sky one more time...

"The night is sure pretty... It's like what you said..And it seems kinda like you too." He whispered, hoping to not let her hear of anything about it since it merely escaped from his mouth unknowingly. Mirai however heard his whisper and simply continued to close her eyes and feel the warmth of his body coating her from the cold winds of the night.

* * *

 ** _Somewhere in a small town... (A few kilometers away from Magnolia...)_**

"Are you really sure about this?" A figure spoke towards a black-haired man who was standing infront of him with a determined expression.

"Yes..."

"But shouldn't you at least seek help from Natsu or the others? I mean, it'd be much easier if you let them come with you on this quest." The figure seemed to be dissuading the other man about doing the unknown task alone.

"It's okay... I don't want to worry them too much... I'll just have to explain it to them when I get back." The black-haired guy reasoned only getting the cloaked figure to sigh in depression as he cannot seemed to convince the other guy to reconsider about letting Natsu or the others to join with him on the journey.

"I don't know why you would want to do this alone but I guess we have no choice..." He paused and finally spoke in favor of his decision.

"...We'll meet at the location in the next three days. We'll take some measures in scouting around it if there's any hostilities." He paused again as the black-haired man simply nodded in response.

"...Make sure you prepare your things for your journey when you get back Gray..." The black-haired man, Gray nodded again for the second time before looking back to the cloaked figure once more.

"Are you sure that what you said is true?" Gray asked.

"I won't be telling you if this was a lie..." The cloaked figure replied.

"Then there's not much to discuss. I'll be going back and meet up with you guys at the ruins." Gray finalized as he began to turn away and walk towards the opposite direction.

"Don't be late..."

"I won't... If this is the only way to repay her then I can promise you that I will take it no matter what comes in my way." He answered coldly at the figure who simply tugged down his hood before disappearing into the darkness.

Gray briefly looked towards the sky in a solemn expression before turning his gaze back to his direction and walked again towards his destination.

"Wait for me... ... ... ... ...

* * *

 **A/N: And done! Chapter 17 is done baby... Yas! And now we're finally off to the second major arc coming right up on the next chapter! Yes, we are moving onto the half of this story. Celebrations all around yay!**

 **And of course, about the chapter. A little moment with Natsu and Mirai there yeah? Sorry for overdoing it too much on their part but I will still creating her very own arc so don't mistake this as her own arc yet okay? This is just her introduction lol. I really do hope in balancing the girls' appearance in this story further.**

 **And about the age of the Selverions. I'm sorry but I really did put those numbers correctly for a reason. You may consider this a mistake at the moment as the story progresses. So I won't blame you guys, it's your observation and opinion of the story. I'm not going ballistic all about it. Bah I'm more or a peaceful person like Mirai.. :) You already know that by now since I was giving like [V (^^) V] all the time.**

 **Well jokes aside, more will be revealed about their profiles since it wasn't finalized yet. It's written based on the progress of the story so don't panic xD..**

 **The new poll will start once I issued an announcement on one of the incoming chapters.**

 **Well I guess, that's all for now guys. See ya on the next chapter and look forward to it. Again I would like to thank you guys for supporting story. I'm really happy and more motivated at the same time. :D**

 **\- PEACE - V (^^) V**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


	18. The Secret Quest

**A/N: Yello my dear readers. wiErD here. Came back another chapter and of course, this is the start or rather, the prelude of the second major arc in the story.**

 **It seems I gave a little teaser on the last chapter about Gray's intentions and it seems we're about to find out in this chapter soon.**

* * *

 **And of course, my replies to the readers who gave their opinions on this story:**

 **1.) _Draen:_ Glad you like it ^^ Anyone's free to board on their favorite ships. :)**

 **2.) _FireDragonSpider-Mane6:_ Thank you for understanding. And of course, we'll bound to find out soon. :)**

 **3.) _DESguys2.0:_ Your welcome and thanks for commenting about my grammar... I will definitely work hard in improving it further. And I always reply back to all the readers because they greatly contributed in this story and also motivated me at most times. Glad you like it :)**

 **4.) _Nalishipper8:_ Your welcome. ^^**

 **5.) _Gersus:_ Lol, it never thought of it like that xD. But considering her personality as of now, it might be but everyone has their opinions :) And of course, for Mirai and Natsu, it's just the intro. so her arc will be mostly placed after the incoming major arc. And Gray... Well, we'll find it soon here in the chapter and the next of it. Look forward to it ^^ And thank you for your thoughts. It was greatly appreciated. **

**6.) _Synergizer:_ Thank you for your review. I'm glad that the story is getting noticed at this later time. About my grammars, I would be making a major recheck back at the first chapter after the whole story is finished so it would take time.. ^^**

 **7.) _treeofsakuras:_ Glad you like it. She'll be having her own arc soon.**

 **8.) _Yours truly - Pride:_ Thank you again :) It really motivates me to write more. And about that, are you referring about a snippet or something? I don't mind creating one. Just gonna finish this story first before making separate one-shots of the girls of the same story ^^**

 **9.) _ValinNight:_ Thank you. :) Glad you like it!**

 **10.) _mmaallek:_ I apologize for Mirai's lack of screentime but like I said, it's only an intro for her. She'll have her arc soon. And Sara? Hmm... Maybe but everyone has their own opinions about her so it's okay for her to be depicted like that. :)  
Lucy isn't left out... I'm still not sure whether to put her in the harem or not but I've been making out some scenes for her to be together at the group for some time since I recently posted separate arcs of the girls in the last few weeks.**

* * *

 **Look forward to it. Have Fun and Happy Reading to ya'll :)**

 **Disclaimer: 18th... The 18th time that I don't own Fairy Tail nor its characters... And I just own my OCs for the 18th time too.**

* * *

 **\- The Secret Quest -**

A new day had dawned once again in Earthland as the sun rose up from the Eastern mountains. People flocked the streets in Magnolia, looking to work hard for their daily lives. Shops and stores reopened for the day, in hopes of earning more money for their own benefits. In other words, it's just a normal day for the people of Magnolia. Nothing much had changed as the townspeople simply wore happy smiles on their faces, greeted each other in a friendly manner and all sorts of a typical friendly person would do.

Located at the north side of the town was the ever famous Fairy Tail guild. Unlike the normality of the people outside, the situation of the guild inside had drastically changed due to some certain issues involving a certain pinkette.

Yup, the news about Natsu's being a fiance gave them a hard blow to their minds except for the ones who had already known all about it.

Ever since the appearance of the Mirai and Raven inside the guild and the rumor of an engagement concerning the former and their fire dragonslayer, the guild members had begun to take observations between them.

It was a serious matter of course. Well, at least for the boys since it was quite a shocking revelation for them.

The shock from the other day still haunted their minds as they couldn't simply believe that their idiotic, battle-loving, and dense dragonslayer had unexpectedly became a fiance from one of the families from an unknown village. Not to mention that his fiancee was a very beautiful girl. It's just so frustrating for the males inside the guild for him to be able to get himself dragged into that kind of situation.

Damn, he already got the two 'Demons' and a Sky Maiden. In addition to that, he probably got Sara's attention too.

And now, he even got himself a beautiful bishoujo.

Thinking about that thought makes their blood boil in anger for the fire dragonslayer. They know that Natsu doesn't pay much attention to the girls all the time since he had no interest in it. He never regarded romance as a priority until now and he has absolutely no talent in making girls fall in love with him.

Well, now the jokes on them. The fire dragonslayer had unknowingly attracted a few girls already while they're stuck to their own delusions of having at least one girlfriend of their own.

Why does this have to happen to them? Why did it have to be him?

What a lucky bastard.

..

..

..

Well setting aside about the growing hatred and envy of the boys against the fire dragonslayer,

Natsu and the rest of the team are situated inside, facing the master as he was sitting down on the bar counter with a beer of mug on his hand. They were just discussing about the matter with Mirai and Raven since Natsu had personally requested the old man to give the two at least a temporary stay inside the guild despite of not being members.

Of course, The two are permanently staying at the dragonslayer's house but Mirai wanted to look for a job to at least repay their gratitude for Natsu and his friends for letting them stay here in Magnolia. Natsu suggested about taking a job as a waitress inside the guild much to her joy and to Mirajane's horror.

Aside from the fact of wanting them to spend their time inside the guild with them, Natsu just simply wanted the two to experience of what's inside the guild since they also came here to explore the world. Showing them the things around here will be the first step in helping them learn some things.

And for some reason, he was already taking the responsibility in looking out for the two without even knowing it. Well, he did care for them as well as his friends and he just couldn't stand there doing nothing about it.

He could get the feeling that Hikari and Ferrix were entrusting their children to him from now on. Not that they wanted to abandon them but they simply entrusted him their safety to him since, he's the only one who could protect them when a threat arises around them.

From now on, they will share their memories together with their new friends and treasure those moments with them. For once, they never regretted coming through here and it's not like they're gonna separate with their parents now. They could always visit them back whenever they got the chance and hopefully, they would also tell them of their amazing stories and precious moments together with Natsu and the others.

Though, Mirai will be expecting her mother's anticipation about their relationship progress with the dragonslayer if that time comes. She still had the thought of having him as her future son-in-law.

Well, at least she and her father supports them.

What a very troublesome mother she has.

Master was still pondering about it for a moment to think up of a decision for the two. He took a brief glance towards the Selverion siblings together with group who wore nervous faces since they were actually presenting themselves in front of a guild master which kinda new for them.

His face softened and closed his eyes upon finally making a decision. He looked back to the group with a reassuring smile as he began to speak.

"Well since you've all wanted to approve of it, then I guess they could stay. After all, there are some people who are eager to meet them in person..." He looked back to some guild members which consisted mostly of girls behind the group.

A couple of smiles crept into the group's faces as they let out a delightful cheer at the decision. Erza simply smiled in thought while crossing her arms. Wendy and Sara simply hugged each other in delight while Raven and Happy smiled at each other.

Mirai could only make out a warm smile as the master finally approved them of their stay here at the guild. She merely bowed down in showing her gratitude to him.

"T-Thank you." She squeaked as Raven did the same and bowed towards the master.

"Please raise your heads. There's really nothing for you to be worried about. Everyone in Fairy Tail treats you as a friend and a fellow family member. Whether you're in a guild or not, the bonds and the times you spent with us is all that matters..." He spoke in a fatherly tone as his words somehow caught some of the guild members to listen to him intently.

"...Your friendship with Natsu and the others are strong and unbreakable even though you met them in a short time. So please, raise your head up high and smile for everyone... Fairy Tail accepts everyone who deeply cares for their friends whether they're mages or not." He finished as Mirai and Raven were left astounded from his words. A small tear crept up from Mirai's eyes as she couldn't help herself being overjoyed from his kind words.

She then felt a light pat on her shoulder as Erza came over to her and reassured her feelings.

"Isn't it great? You and Raven will be able to spend time with us from now on." She smiled warmly as Mirai looked back at her and wiped her tears of joy before putting up a gentle smile towards her and her friends.

"Yes!" She beamed.

"Yosha! Now let's have a welcoming party for Mirai and Raven in our guild! Let's party!" Makarov suddenly shouted in joy, replacing his fatherly figure into a drunken stupor as he raise his mug in the air giving the whole guild members a wild roar as they shouted in response for them. Some of them stood from their seats and shouted cheers of celebration while others brought out some confetti for their welcoming party while releasing a huge banner above the guild that says: WELCOME MIRAI AND RAVEN!

Mirai and Raven could only gape in surprise at the preparation of their welcoming party before them. The whole team could only smile as Wendy and Sara began to drag Mirai to have some fun. Raven simply went over to Happy and began to play around together with Asuka.

They had to ask though, since when did they made that banner?

Well, they disregarded it as they simply went in with flow and have fun for themselves together with the guild.

Erza and Natsu were left standing from the sidelines near the bar counter together with Makarov with satisfied looks on their faces.

"Well, it did turn out to be good for them don't you think Natsu?" The scarlet knight suddenly spoke beside him which prompted him to turn to her.

"Yeah... Thanks to you guys. We get to spend our time together with them from now on." Natsu simply grinned back at the scarlet knight who shook her head with a slight blush from her face.

"Nope, I think it was thanks to you that they were able to experience something like this in their lives. They're probably glad to have met you Natsu." She smiled warmly.

"Is that so?" He pondered in thought as he placed his hands behind his back and thought about it for a moment.

He looked back at her and the master with a toothy grin in his face before speaking again.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without Gramps." He then went over to the bar counter where the master is.

"Thanks Gramps!" Natsu grinned before fiercely patting the Wizard Saint's back hard, therefore sending the short old man down towards the floor from the intensity of the force.

And in an instant, several faces of the guild members inside turned into horror as they gawked at the pinkette's actions. And at the same time, Makarov instantly used his Titan magic on his hand and simply punched the dragonslayer away from him, sending him crashing into one of the tables with a loud bang. The chairs were instantly broken down as the crash kicked up dust from his crash.

Erza and the others together with the Selverion siblings only sweated their foreheads at the sight.

Well, the day is just starting and Natsu was already stirring trouble for himself. They looked back towards the seething Titan mage who simply returned his hand back to its original form and simply sat down once again on the bar counter, wearing a huge tick mark on his head.

"That damn brat... What the hell was that for?" He muttered angrily as he took out another empty mug and filled it to a nearby barrel to drink it.

"Ara, ara... You shouldn't be like that to him Master... You know how he used to thank people." A sweet voice resounded behind the counter, revealing to be Mirajane as she came into view in her usual barmaid clothes. Erza simply sat down in one of the seats at the counter beside the master before ordering a strawberry cake.

"Tch... I'd never get used to it..." Makarov simply replied disapprovingly. He briefly took a sip from his mug and simply looked again towards the direction where Natsu had landed, only to see him emerge with a pissed off look on his face and began punching out some dudes in his vicinity.

And in just like that, the normal days of Fairy Tail returned as the fight broke out once again.

Makarov could only sigh once again as the usual routines inside his guild simply resumed back to its original course. He's serious hoped that the arrival of the two will somehow lessen the guild brawls. Though, he didn't really think about it carefully of how it would really work.

But damn, he didn't really expect one of his brats to become a fiance at this time and of all the people out there, it had to be Natsu. He could somehow feel bad for the black-haired girl for giving him such an engagement, although it was the mother who gave the invitation.

The boy's head is as hard as a steel ball. It will probably take some time for them to let the boy know the true meaning of the engagement thing.

To be honest, he doesn't really know what will happen if the fire dragonslayer is dragged into this kind of situation. Well, he didn't care though. At least he could somehow imagine the pinkette would bring forth of the next generation of Fairy Tail. He could be the great grandfather of their kids if that future had come into fruition.

 _'Great Grandfather eh? Not bad... I think it has nice ring to it...'_ He thought out in amazement as he pondered his thoughts sagely. Oh, how he wanted to see that too since it's been rare for anyone to be called someone like that in a lifetime.

Now that would be awesome on his account.

..

..

..

"So... ...when are they gonna get married?" He tried to ask the two female S-Class mages near him.

His question almost made Erza swallow her spoon by accident while Mira simply dropped the plate she was holding after hearing such an unusual question. And in an instant, the scarlet knight was greatly blushing as her cheeks went red all of a sudden and lost her strong facade. Mira on the other hand, was simply smiling as if she was trying to feign from what she just heard from the master.

"W-W-What are you saying m-master?" The scarlet knight stuttered from her words as her face was easily flustered.

"Well, I was just thinking about calling myself a great grandfather after they gave birth to a baby." Makarov pondered in thought without having the knowledge of pissing off the female mages around him.

"B-B-BABY?! B-BIRTH?!" It was then Mirajane and Erza were stuttering in unison after hearing such a word from the guildmaster.

"What's wrong with that? I, for one would personally like to see it in the future. Plus, I would be very proud for the brat for bringing such an amazing young woman inside the guild. He sure had good eyes when it comes in picking women. I do hope he picks up some adult women for me too." He hooted before drinking up his beer again only to feel a huge shiver of fright crawling up to his spine as he felt a rather malevolent aura coming from the two females behind him.

 **"Master... ... ...Why are you saying such things so casually?"** Mirajane glowered at the short old man who was slowly turning his head towards them with a rather goofy smile in hopes in calming her down.

"Now, now... I was just joking about the whole baby-making thing alright?"

His words however simply fueled their anger and instantly glowed even more furiously as their hairs were already blown back from their intense auras which scared the shit of the old man just by seeing it.

 **"Baby-making?"** Erza muttered as she began to summon her judgement hammer once again. Mira on the other hand, had donned into her Satan Soul which others would take caution from it for bringing it out so carelessly inside the guild.

"N-No.. I wasn't referring about that... I was just joking about the whole marrying thing... I mean, Natsu is really s-stupid so it will be impossible for him to notice right?" He tried desperately to come up an excuse for the two but it seems that they won't listen to every word he says.

Not this again, I mean, come on. Will they just spare a poor old man for once?

 **"Repent from your actions Master and accept this punishment!"** Erza and Mira spoke in unison as the former swung her hammer downwards towards the old man. Mirajane had summoned a dark orb from her hands and pointed towards him without any hint of mercy on her face.

Makarov comically sweated nervously out of fear as the shadows became larger as the attacks neared at him, seemingly to be deadly in his account.

Well shit, they should've at least given him a little time to write his last will and choose the next inheritor of being a guild master if he's gonna end up like this.

And in just like that, Master was easily squashed by the intense attacks of the hammer and the dark orb that sent him a few feet under with huge lump on his forehead.

Poor master... At least, he finally felt what Natsu had been going through...

..

..

..

As the party goes on, a few people were asking a lot of question about Mirai concerning about the rumor of her being Natsu's fiancee. She was already surrounded by a couple of female guild members.

"Ne ne... Is it true about you and Natsu being engaged?" A random female member asked delightfully as she could see the sparkle in her eyes just from the question given to her.

"How long are you two been keeping this a secret?"

"Is he like hot to you?" Well considering his constitution then she might say yes to that.

"Did you two kiss already?"

"Muuoo! Natsu-sama is better off with me!" Judging from the last female statement, it would seemed like Natsu somehow gained some female fans.

Now that was unexpected.

Mirai simply smiled as she cannot really sift through all those questions until Sara and Wendy pulled her away from the crowd, thus saving her from the pressing question about her and Natsu's relationship. They soon left the crowd as they settled down to their seats together with some of the members consisting Charle and Happy together with Raven who was eating a small fish given by the blue Exceed to him.

"Are you alright Mirai-san?" Wendy asked curiously at the black-haired girl who sat beside her and Sara with a slightly weary look.

"I-I'm alright Wendy-san... I'm just tired that's all." She replied.

"How come you became so tired after sleeping all night with us?" Sara soon followed.

Mirai couldn't tell them about what happened last night especially her time with Natsu. She didn't know why but she felt embarrassed if it was known to the rest of her other friends. Judging from their reactions, it seems like Natsu didn't also tell them about it last night. Maybe he wants her to keep it a secret between them only.

Her face suddenly went beet red all of sudden as her mind remembered back of his declaration last night. She was still embarrassed about it. Well, of course she would be since he was really serious in progressing their relationship. It almost seemed like a confession for her since she remembered his determination that time.

Hearing such a word even made blush further as her face was starting to heat up. Wendy and the others noticed her flustered face and decided to ask.

"Is something wrong Mirai-san? You look red all of a sudden. Did you catch a cold or something?" Wendy asked worriedly.

"A-Ah... I-It's nothing.." She quickly replied shyly before trying to hide her embarrassment from them.

The others simply titled their head in confusion as they simply observed her for a moment until Mirai suddenly realized something odd or rather missing from their group.

"By the way, why isn't Gray-san with you guys?" She asked curiously as she could see the lack of a stripping mage around them.

Upon hearing her question, the group simply wore a frown look on their faces. Mirai noticed this and decided to take back her words. It seems like something must have happened to between them before she and Raven came over to the guild.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell. Sorry for bringing up a bothersome question."

"No... It's okay for you to know... The truth is... He hasn't returned ever since taking another job a few days back... Mira-san and Erza-san had been talking about it to the master but he had no clue of where's he's been or what he's been doing..." Sara explained.

"Natsu was beginning to worry about it since he's been gone out for too long... This hasn't happened before. It's just one time we were all together and then he suddenly became so... ...distant." Wendy trailed off in thought about the raven-haired mage.

"Did you try asking him?" Mirai inquired but only received disapproving nods from her friends.

"We tried to but he won't tell us exactly even to Natsu." Charle spoke.

"Mmm..." Mirai simply shook her head in thought before glancing towards the fire dragonslayer who was happily enjoying his very own fight at the corner of the guild.

"Yes, Juvia hasn't been able to understand what Gray-sama's been going through." A rather concerned voice appeared from behind of the group, giving them a slight surprise, only to see Juvia in her usual worried expression whenever Gray is away on missions.

"I failed as her future wife..."

 _'Since when did she appeared behind us?'_ They all thought confusingly as they all looked at the depressed water mage, crying out from her eyes which alerted Sara and Wendy immediately as they stood up and comforted her to prevent the flooding.

As the whole celebration continues, the group was approached by Mirajane who had reverted back to her normal form after with that little issue about their master. It was just a tiny bit of business that she needed to tend to in order to remind the master of his current position as the guildmaster. He doesn't really act according to his age that she and Erza had to make sure to remind him of his role as their father figure towards the other members.

She immediately wore a gentle smile as she finally neared herself towards the group.

"So how do you feel being inside the guild Mirai?" She asked with a hint of joy in the tone of her voice. The Selverion sister instantly shot into attention as she turned over to the asking barmaid.

"Happy I guess... Everyone is so nice and warm." She trailed off in thought as she looked over to the partying people together with some guild brawlers in it.

"So what were you all been talking about?" Mirajane suddenly asked seemingly wanted to know of their discussion earlier. Both heads turned over to her to speak.

"We were just talking about Gray-san... You know, about his whereabouts..." Wendy spoke. And in a moment, Mirajane suddenly remembered something involving the ice mage.

"If you're talking about him, he should be back by now from his recent job..." She revealed, getting them to widen their eyes in surprise.

"How did you know?" Sara gasped as she covered her mouth from the revelation. Everyone seemed to be doing the same as they all looked at the barmaid with anticipation of her statement about Gray's whereabouts. Mirai simply followed in with the rest of the others as she began to listen to the Take-Over mage.

"Well, I do handle out the job requests by examining every one of them from the board everyday. I counted them in order to make sure that all the newly-received paper requests are correctly sifted through the end of the day...I even read each of their requests to make sure to categorize them depending on the situation given." She explained, only getting them more confused and somehow amazed by her statement.

"Y-You count them everyday?" Wendy tried to confirm. Mirajane could only give her a nod.

"You're pretty amazing Mira-san... For you to know all of them everyday..." Mirai complimented with a hint of praise coming from her as she looked at the barmaid with wonder.

Mirajane could only make out a flustered look towards them as she gave a frantic reply of denial from their praises.

"W-Well it's nothing serious... It's my job as the head waitress of the guild to be working on those." She shyly replied as the group could only smile back at her with happiness.

..

..

And in just like that, the group's atmosphere suddenly lightened up again as Mirajane joined in with them, talking some things about the guild and to themselves as well for Mirai. It's just feels nice for them to open up to her like that since they already regarded her ass their friend and family. Their conversations were all devoid of the rivalry between them for Natsu as they simply enjoyed their time together and formed a new friendship with the black-haired girl.

For a moment there, they were all worried about the ice-mage but it seemed like that it was instantly replaced by a warm conversation between girls as Mirai happily enjoyed her time together with them.

Her future has just started before her and she'd hope to embrace it together with Raven and her new friends.

..

..

..

Located on the far side of the corner was Natsu, who was stealing brief glances at Mirai who was currently having a good conversation with the other guild members. He could only give a small smile from afar as he felt content about what they're feeling right now.

With her and Raven finally living in his house, he could say that the house will no longer be dirty than it was before. Having her around surely liven things up in his opinion. He couldn't really explain it but every time she's around them, he could feel a bright atmosphere surrounding them as if it was being replaced by it.

Well, he could view it that way for now. As long as they're happy and having much fun with him and the others then he has no regrets.

Thinking about talking to them as well, Natsu broke away from the fighting guild members as he tried to make his way towards them in just a matter of seconds.

His presence somehow, caught their attention and waved their arms to him as he came into view.

"Hey guys. What are you doing?" He asked curiously as the girls all beamed at him with their warm smiles though some of them like Wendy and Mirai are fidgeting uncomfortably from their seats.

"Ara Natsu... Good timing. We were just talking about you.." Mirajane spoke, getting him to tilt his head in confusion upon mentioning him in their conversation.

"Me?" He pointed out a finger towards him for confirmation.

"Yes... ... We were just talking about which girl do you like the most." She replied and at the same time, the girls were all looking at the sides from their seats with matching red color, plastered on their faces.

The white-haired barmaid seems to be the only one who was still composed after asking such a question from the pinkette who simply pondered about it. Happy and Raven were only looking at the dragonslayer intently, waiting for his answer while Charle simply crossed her paws and simply glanced away from the group, seeing the question to be quite meaningless to her.

She could only support her sky dragonslayer but in questions like this, she can't really help much about it.

"Well, I do like you, Erza, Wendy, Sara, Mirai, Levy, Lucy-" He was cut short when Mirajane slammed her hands to the table with a pout as she was clearly not referring to the number of his female friends.

"It's not about that Natsu... I'm talking about which girl do you think you're most comfortable with..." She clarified, only getting him to be more confused at her question.

"Huh?" Came the dumb reply...

Mirajane could only huff before looking back at him with determined eyes.

"What I'm saying is that which girl do you find more umm... ... ... easy to talk to. The kind of girl that you see quite different from the other girls that you usually talk to." She explained.

Now Natsu was getting confused. Now seriously, what the hell are they talking this to him now? He still doesn't get anything from what she just said earlier to him and he thought that repeating it again to them would ensure that something bad is going to happen. To be honest, he do like them all but he doesn't know where he should view them into more of a different perspective than friendship.

He's been thinking about it now lately.

What are they exactly to him? It never occurred to him about questioning their places in his life. He just viewed them as his close friends and never changed it since then even though he spent a lot of time with each of them in the past few days at least.

Something tells him that regarding them as close friends are not the best choice anymore, specifically at this point where he was asked something unusual coming from Mirajane. It was something more of a bit deeper than that. He couldn't explain it but it had to be like that. He was also starting to see it in the near future though he doesn't know what it will be.

 _'Argh, damn it! It's so hard to think straight...'_ He inwardly scolded himself for being unable to decide at things such as this. Why did it have to be so hard?

He quickly gave a slight glance to his female friends who were looking at him intently for his answer. It would seemed like Mirai wants to know too. He was starting to get uneasy about the topic.

"E-Even if you say that... ... ...I still don't know who to choose..." He silently muttered as the girls gave her a worried look except for Mirajane who was still smiling despite his answer.

"In time Natsu, you'll be forced to choose either one of us..." The white-haired barmaid muttered as the girls looked at her with a slight surprise at her answer including Mirai.

The fire dragonslayer could only look quizzically at the barmaid who suddenly changed her expression in a solemn manner after saying those words.

"What do you mean Mira?"

His reply was soon ignored as the girls seemed to locked their eyes at each other with determination. Happy and Raven could only hide under the table to avoid the tense atmosphere building up between them. It was becoming much more of a battle against them as the girls simply narrowed their eyes against each other. For some reason, Natsu could feel the tension between them as he was astounded from the sight.

"That's why you have to be careful Natsu..." A familiar voice resounded behind them as they all turned their heads around seeing the scarlet knight coming to view.

"Erza!" The pinkette exclaimed.

The girls however simply didn't let down their guard even at the redhead who also wore the same expression as them.

"Next time will be not be answered by your indecisiveness on this..." She spoke without looking at him as she stayed locking her eyes against the girls.

And at that moment, Raven and Happy were safely hiding under the table to avoid the tense atmosphere building up between them, though it was instantly broken as Sara raised a question.

..

..

"I know it's been bothering me for awhile now but couldn't just Natsu take them all to himself?" Sara innocently asked unknowingly giving the whole group the jawdrop as their own facades came crashing down instantly, replacing it with a couple greatly flustered looks in response of her seemingly uncomfortable question.

Raven and the two Exceed were already out of sight as they sneaked passed from the group of not wanting to hear the whole conversation anymore.

Yup, they didn't want to know.

For Charle, she didn't have to worry about the bluenette since she's mature enough to be joining in that kind of conversation. It's not like she wanted to taint her innocence yet, but her actions and feelings towards the pink-haired dragonslayer are stronger than ever.

She had become quite mature over the past few days and the only thing she could do is support her.

..

..

"W-W-What are you saying Sara?!" Erza stuttered as her face immediately went red all of a sudden, matching the color of her hair in a matter of seconds. The rest of the group including Mirai were blushing madly as they tried to hide away their faces from the pinkette who was still clueless about the topic.

"What about me?" He decided to ask again upon hearing his name at the topic.

In amidst of the conversation, Mirajane wasn't fazed by the wind dragonslayer's question. Instead, she was intrigued by it.

Now that can't be good. Knowing her, she was probably plotting something troublesome for the pinkette.

"Would you care to enlighten us about it Sara-chan~" Her tone suddenly turned seductive as she neared herself to the wind dragonslayer with sparkling eyes. The others were forced to listen as well since they were strangely interested to hear about her question except for Natsu who was seemingly dragged into it without saying much of a word to speak for himself.

Sara took a deep breath for a few seconds before facing the listening group despite the blushes on their faces.

"Well, Zephyria once told me about the dragon's constitution where the male dragons used to have mates of their own to show their dominance and superiority against each other... Though there were some who preferred solitude over mates such as mother so we didn't talked much about it..." She carefully explained as she pointed her index finger upwards as if she was clarifying something.

"W-Wait so are you saying that Natsu can have more than just one?" Mirajane inquired as she was slightly baffled by that little piece of information. Said dragonslayer popped up again upon hearing his name again.

"Me again?"

Sara could only nod at the barmaid as she didn't show any signs of being embarrassed at all. However for the other girls, their faces were already at the breaking point. This was very new and very embarrassing for them to hear such a thing. Wendy was even more blushing as she really didn't know that such a rule exist in the world of dragon culture.

But why didn't Grandeeney told her about this? She knew that she disappeared without teaching her a lot of being a dragonslayer but she should at least explain more about this mate-part thingy so she would be aware of it.

Meanwhile, Erza and Mirai were at their limits. This was their first time hearing such a thing. Of course, they didn't knew much about the dragons since they were like rare and quite extinct at this time. The only thing they were able to learn some bits of information about them was the dragonslayer's story about them since they were raised by the dragons themselves.

"But N-Natsu isn't a dragon..." Erza tried to reason.

"Technically, that's true but Natsu was raised to be like one and he inherited some of his dragon's features aside from his magic...Same thing could be applied to me and Wendy as well."

They couldn't argue with that since everything she said is true but the only question is, does Natsu know anything about this?

They all turned their heads over to the fire dragonslayer in his seat, only to find it empty. A couple of sweated heads soon followed.

"Where is he now?" Mirajane asked.

"Over there..." Wendy pointed out her finger towards the pinkette who was seemingly joining in with the fight once again with the other guild brawlers.

And in an instant, their faces turned into a deadpanned expression as they all saw him fighting once again. He's really not paying attention to the topic earlier. For some reason, they all breath a huge sigh of relief since Natsu still haven't noticed it yet.

It's still too early to be making such decisions like that for the pinkette and for the first time, they were glad to have a good reason for him to stay dense for awhile. The revelation about the dragon mate is still new for them except for Sara who has more knowledge about the dragons than Wendy. Their hearts were all beating loudly from their chests as they couldn't seem to calm down.

However for Mira, this was a chance... She was already smirking underneath her smile after hearing too much about it.

And once again, the barmaid was already up to no good...

If what Sara said was true, then there is chance for them to be all happy at the same time. She wasn't thinking that the whole mate thing was the permanent solution for all of them. There's still a matter of Natsu accepting it or not. Considering his dense nature, it will take time for it come into fruition or maybe even not if he declines it.

For now, they'll have to keep the topic a secret between them from Natsu and to the other people. It's not yet a good time to be discussing such things.

Though, she had to prefer taking him all to herself. Too much girls is a pain and that fiance thing was a huge setback for her future plans for her Natsu.

..

..

..

Just as they were about finished of their conversation, the guild doors opened as a figure began to walk inside. The angel of the bright light of the sun made it hard for them to identify its face but for the dragonslayers, they already knew the unknown figure just by sniffing at its scent.

The figure walked further inside, giving the people inside to recognize the person.

"Gray?!" A couple of gasps resounded from the halls especially for the whole team as they saw their ice-mage again.

However, Gray could only force a weary smile from the whole guild as if nothing had happened between over the past few days.

"Hey guys..." He spoke as he simply cupped his hands in his trousers and walked through to the counter where the master was who miraculously returned back to normal after getting beaten up by the two female mages. Most of the people inside the guild aren't fully aware of the ice-mage recent behavior so they still simply treated him as usual.

Natsu immediately stopped his fighting as he and the rest of his friends, including Mirai and Raven simply stood there dumbfounded at Gray's actions.

Makarov could only force his one eye open but still kept his usual figure as the ice-mage simply laid down the request paper from his hands at the bar counter.

"Is Mira around here? I'm looking for another job..." He simply spoke to the master, having not to see the barmaid from one of the tables with Team Natsu.

"Another one huh? You seemed to be working harder than usual..." He slightly quirked an eyebrow towards the ice-mage who was still not changing his blank look at him.

"Well I got to earn more since I've been running out of jewels lately..."

"I never thought you to be the type who uses jewels that much..."

"Well, I'm a human too. I have my own personal needs and expenses." He forced a smile on the short old man who only gave him a troubled look before closing his eyes once again.

"Well, I guess you had your reasons. Very well, I'll hand you some paper request in place for Mira-chan. She seemed so busy at the moment."

"Okay... I don't mean to bother her..." He muttered as Makarov simply lifted his hand and pointed over to the Request Board and plucked of a random paper request from it by the use of his telekinesis. The ice-mage simply looked at the paper before folding it again and put it in his trousers.

"Then, I'll be off..." He spoke only getting a nod from the master who simply returned back from his beer and drank again.

The guild was still celebrating for the welcoming party but for Natsu, he was thinking that this is the right time to ask about his recent behavior towards them. It kinda sickening actually since he's seemingly ignoring them ever since he arrived back.

..

..

He was about to make his way towards him when Gray was first interrupted by someone faster than him.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia quickly shouted from the sides upon seeing the man she was in love to.

However, Gray simply ignored the water mage as he walked towards the exit as if someone didn't really talk to him.

Just as he was about to depart from the guild, a figure dashed towards the doors, standing before the door thus, preventing the ice mage from going any further. The ice mage could simply sigh as he recognized the person blocking his way with Juvia still being love-struck behind him despite what happened earlier.

"What do you want Natsu?" Gray blankly spoke with a light hint of intimidation from his face that slightly worried the fire dragonslayer but he disregarded it for a moment before looking at him with determination written on his face.

He's gonna find what he's been up to after all these past few days.

"Where are you going Gray?" The pinkette asked.

"It doesn't concern you Natsu. I have no time in playing with you." He blankly replied, getting the fire dragonslayer to form a tick mark in his head.

"Playing?"

"I have a job so please step aside." Gray spoke with finality but it didn't budge the fire dragonslayer who instantly went dead serious in his expression from his previously annoyed look.

"Something's wrong with you Gray... Why won't you tell us?"

"There's nothing wrong with me... I'm just busy. What is your problem with me?"

"You're avoiding us... That's why."

"I'm not avoiding you guys. I'm just busy with something." He spoke.

"With what?" Natsu asked curiously.

"It's none of your business Natsu."

"Like hell it wasn't! Don't tell you're secretly training to surpass me stripper."

If Gray was in the mood, he would've already jumped into a fistfight with him but instead, he kept his composure and went past the dragonslayer who was shocked that the ice mage wasn't intimidated or even pissed at his reply.

Good thing the whole guild was still in the midst of the celebration. If they somehow witnessed the ice mage acting like this, they would've got their jaws dropped to the ground in utter shock but Natsu thinks that it wouldn't be long for them to notice.

And at the same time, he had enough of the ice mage. If he's not willing to talk about it, he'll just have to force it out of him.

The ice mage was about to depart through the door only to dodge an incoming table flung towards him thus interrupting his departure from the guild. He looked around and sighed as he saw a seething fire dragonslayer with flames comically bursting out from his body as if he was really mad.

"What are you doing?" Gray asked without much of an emotion putted in his tone.

"Challenging you! That's what." He declared loudly in front of him as the whole guild stopped their current doings and looked over to the fire dragonslayer, only to see him standing in front of the ice mage who was a few meters by the door.

Hearing of what the pinkette had just said, they all suddenly quirked their brows in interest as Natsu was seemingly challenging the ice mage for real. A couple of murmurs resounded through the crowd as they began to discuss about the declaration made by the fire dragonslayer.

Even the girls near the counter were shocked to see the pinkette declaring something out in the blue.

"Did I hear right? He's challenging Gray?"

"Seriously? For real? I never thought that he would really do it since their rivals."

"Idiot! That's why he's challenging him. They're rivals. Only this time, Natsu seemed to be serious."

"Damn, it's about time... I waited long enough."

..

..

A couple of guild members rounded up to the two as Natsu and Gray stood up against each other with the former, wearing a smirk in his face.

The pinkette wanted to keep the ice mage from going any further to his job. And attracting attention such as a real duel between them was a solution. He'll just have to swallow his pride and take the liberty in asking him a fight.

No way, he would really duel him in a form of challenge since he can easily beat the stripper in his own. Asking Erza, Laxus or even Gildarts in a duel would be more suitable for him but not to this mage.

There could be a chance that he'll have to win this fight even though it was just an excuse to keep the ice mage from going.

Meanwhile, Gray stood there unmoving from his position as if he wasn't really bothered by the situation before him. Instead, he gave off a uninterested look at the fire dragonslayer who was clueless at his reaction.

"I don't have time for your playful actions."

"This isn't a game Gray. I'm challenging you to a fight. Right here and right now. We're settling our fight now to see who's stronger."

Gray hesitated for a moment before cupping his hands in his trousers before walking away again.

..

..

"I forfeit."

". . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." Silence filled the air as the whole guild simply paled after hearing such an unusual word coming from the ice mage himself.

I mean, seriously? Did he just back down from a fight?

"WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU SAYING?!" And in just like that, both guildmembers and Natsu were all screaming at the top of their lungs in anger and shock as they faced the ice mage with tick marks present on their heads, especially the fire dragonslayer.

This was his first time hearing Gray backing down from a fight. What's more, he was being challenge by him, his rival. Not second goes by with him backing down in such a fight whether it was a joke or not as long as it involves him.

But this time, he'd literally spoke about forfeiting against him.

"Oi, are you drunk Gray?" He blankly asked.

"I got a job to do." The ice mage simply muttered as he began to make his way outside.

 **"Fire Dragon's Roar!"** A familiar voice boomed through the guild as they all widen in shock as Natsu let out a breath of fire towards the ice mage without any warning.

Gray's instincts immediately kicked in as he blocked the flames with his Ice Make Shield that he instantly summoned before being engulfed by the red flames of the dragonslayer. The flames blasted it way outside the door, destroying it in the process.

The intensity of the roar was strong that it made a slight tremor that caused Makarov to lose his balance and spilled the beer in his hand thereby, soaking him in the process.

Other people who were around Gray were simply treated by the force of the roar as they're all burned into a crisp, convulsing in pain before going unconscious.

"Natsu!" Erza and his other friends called out in worry as they all saw of what he just recently did. The flames died down as Natsu looked over to the ice mage whose shield was badly damaged from his flames but left unscathed from his spell.

The ice cracked into small bits as the spell also died down in Gray's hand before looking at the pinkette with a slight annoyed look present in his eyes.

"Isn't it about time you leave me alone? You have your own problems and I have my own. Don't go meddling too much Natsu." Gray slightly growled before moving into a battle stance as blue magic glowed around his body with his hands letting out a stream of icy mist that enveloped him.

"We're your friends right? Your problem is also our problem. Why are you not letting us help you?"

"Because it's something I must do alone. For her sake." He spoke firmly.

However, Natsu simply noticed his last part of the statement.

"Her?" He curiously asked.

"Nothing... Just don't bother me Natsu." Gray replied as he instantly dispersed his magic power and walked away from the guild, leaving Natsu and the rest of the others dumbfounded of the unfolding event.

The fire dragonslayer was slightly disturbed and curious at the same time about what the ice mage was up to. What is he hiding this time? It's better not be something like at Galuna Island.

"Gray!" He shouted at the ice mage who simply stopped without turning around upon hearing his name.

"We're coming alone with you! Whether you like it or not!"

The half-naked ice mage didn't flinch. Instead, he trudged his way towards the town.

The fight seemed to have died down without destroying the guild completely in exception of the door. Everyone was still in the middle of processing their thought of the scene that happened before them. Some of them were already concerned about the two long time rivals while others simply returned to their previous ventures and celebrated once again.

It was then Happy simply flew towards his partner before stopping a few centimeters from him as he looked at him with worry.

The girls were also looking at him with concern. Everyone's thoughts were simply disregarded momentarily as their minds were focused only at the fire dragonslayer who was left standing at the entrance, watching where Gray had disappeared to.

A small flicker reflected light shone from the ground, that made the fire dragonslayer to take notice and immediately looked over to it and saw a small necklace seemingly lied on the ground.

It was a cross-shaped necklace, specifically in a sword structure with a shiny small stone embedded at the center.

Natsu simply bent his knee and picked the necklace from the ground and gave a good look at it. Judging from the severity of its steel lace, it must have come out from someone's neck recently and he knew who it was as he managed to pick a familiar scent from it.

"Happy..." Natsu finally spoke, getting the blue Exceed's attention.

..

"We're fetching Lucy..."

* * *

 _ **At the corner of Magnolia...(In some house...)**_

Gray simply prepared everything on his upcoming journey. He was already dressed up and ready, wearing a white coat though it would be unnecessary as he has a habit of losing them.

With a couple of food and some potions inside his small bag, he is ready to go. There's nothing more to be worth seeing in his house as his mind was simply focused on the upcoming trip.

His eyes gazed over a photograph where he and his friends had taken for quite some time, excluding Mirai, Raven and Sara. At the center of the picture was him and Natsu fighting over the position at the center to whom should take the spotlight of the photo.

He slightly remembered that time where he and the pinkette were scolded by Erza and ended up at the sides as the she, Lucy, Wendy and the two Exceed took the position instead.

He smiled bitterly at the photo as he began to turn around at the door of his house. He began to pick a small vial and seemingly drank the whole content in one gulp before wiping off some excess fluid coming our from his mouth.

"Sorry Natsu, but I'll have to do this alone... I don't want you guys to be involved on this. But I'll promise that I will return back as soon as I can." He solemnly spoke as he took one last glance over to his house and to the photo before shutting the door and went on silently down the road without looking back.

..

..

..

The sun was already setting as several townspeople are starting to return to their homes. Some shops were about to close at the early hour and the sign of kids running around the streets had ceased as the people simply dominated the populace around the town.

Gray simply walked at the middle, avoiding any contact from any of them and silently went on while keeping a firm caution around his surroundings. His hands were cupped to his trousers and the small bag simply hanged just at his right shoulder.

It took a couple of minutes for him to get out of town as the sight of his guild was already gone. He was nearly at the outskirts of Magnolia itself. A small dirt road leads towards the forest which prompted Gray to take the course and think about settling the night there.

He could've taken a train towards another town but it was closed even at this time so he had no choice but to walk his way towards the destination with his acquaintances.

His thoughts suddenly drifted back to the time when the cloaked man, he'd met at some town the other day, told him about the rumor. He claimed to have investigated it and he was so sure about it being the real deal.

Of course, if the man was telling the truth, he had no reason to deny of it being false. After all, he still wanted to think of a way to bring her back.

Again, his mind began to revert back to the mentioned girl from his thoughts and slightly frowned inwardly.

He gripped his hold over to his small bag tightly as his eyes were narrowing down to the ground, without taking caution in front of him.

 _'Was this the right thing to do?'_ He thought out confusingly as he looked towards the orange sky, wondering about the reason behind his decision of not letting his friends come along.

It might be selfish of him to be doing like this but it was all for the sake of saving someone. This is the right decision.

He'd already made up his mind and already masked his scent from Natsu with the help of the potion. He doesn't want to worry everyone at the guild. He finally saw his new friends back at the guild having fun and he doesn't want them to worry.

He'll just have to promise to himself that he will go back to his home and family after all this.

"I'm sorry guys. This is for the best. I don't want you all to be involved in this." He muttered after glancing to his hometown once more and turned around to his direction.

"Yeah, it's such a shame that we had to go now. We didn't even get a proper party for Mirai and Raven since they came all the way just to see us." A familiar voice resounded behind his back in a more disappointed manner.

"Aye..." Another perky voice soon followed with a much disheartened tone.

Gray immediately spun around and saw Natsu and Happy right behind him in a matter of seconds. His eyes almost went out from their sockets as he found them, seemingly packed up just like him and standing with depressing looks on their faces.

"You two! What are you doing here?" Gray shouted in anger as he couldn't contain his composure any longer and finally stomped his way towards the two with fury in his eyes.

Natsu and Happy simply looked at the seething ice mage with a depressed look.

"Hey Gray... ... Can you give us a moment? We're busy sorting out our feelings for leaving Mirai and Raven behind." Natsu sadly spoke though in a comical fashion together with Happy who also shared the same look.

"Aye... ... ... Even though they bid us a good trip, I feel sad about leaving Raven behind. I wish he could come."

"Well, he's not a mage. We can't risk him, joining with us because of what might happen even though we had Erza." Natsu reasoned.

"I know... But still-"

"Ah, come on. We'll just finish the job and get back at the guild as soon as possible." Natsu suddenly lightened up, leaving his depression and comforted his blue Exceed with a light pat, getting him also out from his depression.

Unknowingly, they already forgot about the ice mage standing in front of them as if he was not there at all. A huge tick mark popped from Gray's head as he summoned a giant ice hammer from his hand, prompting the two to notice his presence.

"DON'T IGNORE ME DAMMIT! ! !" He shouted in anger as Natsu and Happy simply grabbed each other and awaited the incoming impact of the hammer.

"Says the one who ignored his teammates in his recent return from the job." Another familiar voice resounded from his side and saw Erza together Lucy emerging from the foliage. Gray simply stopped his hammer strike on the two and looked at the two familiar girls in disbelief.

"E-Erza... Lucy...?!"

"Yaa! Ho!" Lucy waved cheerily as she held Plue in her arms with a bright smile present on her face despite the situation before her. On the other hand, the redhead had her arms crossed and her face was stoic as ever.

Of course, she had a reason of making a face like that especially to the ice mage who didn't flinched from her expression. Instead, he simply glanced away to the sides to avoid eye contact with the redhead.

Just after the two girls, Sara, Wendy and Charle emerged from the other side with worried looks on their faces except for the white Exceed who simply crossed her paws from the situation.

"What are you doing here guys?" He muttered blanky as he dispersed again his magic, breaking the hammer into small icy crystals that simply fell to the cold ground.

"I should say the same to you too Gray; what are you doing here?" Erza spoke.

"I came to complete my job." He replied before showing a piece of paper to them from his pocket that got Natsu and Happy to look closely but Erza and Lucy knew there was something more he was hiding from them.

"Then I see that masking your scent from Natsu was also part of the job. What are you hiding Gray?" The scarlet knight continued on with her stoic expression that somehow got Natsu and Happy some cold shills into their spines just from the tone of her voice.

"It's none of your business guys. Go away." Gray replied back before turning around from his team.

"Yes it is... You're one the team Gray. Your problems are the same as ours too. We help each other right?" Lucy then butted in, her smile suddenly disappearing from his actions.

"I'm sorry but this problem is much more different."

"Different? Screw that... There's nothing different about it. The only different about it is you." Natsu finally stood up as Happy did the same and flew over to his back.

"You just don't understand Natsu-" He was cut off when the fire dragonslayer suddenly interrupted his statement.

"Understand? It's you who don't understand why everyone was so worried about you... You didn't even consider Juvia's concerns earlier and you just walked away like nothing happened. Mirai and Raven were worried too you know... Do you think you understand that?" Natsu spoke in anger at his rival.

Gray didn't answer as he simply stood there unmoving from his position. His face was shadowed from the locks of his hairs, therefore masking his expression from the others. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists hard as Natsu continued.

"Just let us help you Gray. We're teammates right? You don't shun your friends just like that. You're not alone..." Natsu solemnly spoke as he easily replaced his angered expression into a calmer one, shocking Erza and Lucy in the process.

For someone like Natsu able to keep his cool was actually a shocking revelation. They smiled afterwards as they knew that the pinkette was starting to act mature. It only told them that he had really changed a bit over the past couple of days.

..

..

Natsu then reached from his pocket and took out a familiar necklace that made Gray to widen his eyes in shock.

"You dropped this. I was able to track you because of that even though you masked your scent from me." Natsu spoke before tossing it over to the ice mage who carefully caught it from his two hands and looked at it warmly for having it safely returned from him.

"Don't do something like this again you hear me? Or else, I'll pummel you straight into the ground until you spill the beans." Natsu threatened with a slightly annoyed tone though his expression was changed instantly as Erza bonked him in the head for making such a face.

"We're here for you Gray. Don't forget it." Lucy softly spoke.

"Lucy-san's right. We're your comrades Gray." Sara followed.

"We're going to help you in anyway we can." Wendy squeaked.

Gray simply looked at his comrades and could not help sigh in defeat before giving them a surrendering look.

"Looks like I can't turn down your offer guys."

"Well, even if you did turn us down, we'll keep coming back until you accept." Natsu spoke.

"I don't know whether to call it persistence or just plain stupidity." Charle butted in.

"Hey!"

And in just like that, everyone from the team was doing their things as usual. With Natsu tryong to get his hands on the white Exceed while being held down by Erza and the others. Lucy just smiles at the situation while Wendy and Sara tried to calm the annoyed pinkette down.

Gray simply looked down from the ground with a content smile written on his face.

"What a pain... ... You guys.." He whispered though with small smile creeping up to his lips as he somehow felt happy for them to be able to help out in the end. A group of persistent people can be really annoying sometimes especially the fire dragonslayer. He looked over to his necklace and simply smiled again before putting them into his neck where it usually hangs and looked at his team.

"Well, I guess you could come along... There's no point in arguing with you guys." He spoke, getting the whole team a cheer despite the situation before them.

Natsu simply punched the air with his fist before moving ahead of the team with a fiery and determined smile written on his face.

"Yosh! Let's get to that job!"

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, back at Fairy Tail...**_

"Gray-sama had disappeared once again from my vigilant eyes. This is a failure for me as his future wife!" Juvia cried once again as she failed to keep Gray from her sights despite her being mindful about his well-being. With the guild erupting into another brawl behind her, she couldn't do anything again but to wait for his next return since she doesn't have a clue to where he had gone off to.

She wanted to come but Gray-sama would be very mad...

Her mind suddenly flashed many thoughts about her being punished by Gray with his harsh yet hear-warming words. Another image once again popped again into her mind with her being scolded non-stop by the same person.

"...~ Gray-sama! ~..."

"Please punish me more..." She moaning getting some of the guildmembers to look at her with disgust.

"KEEP YOUR DELUSIONS TO YOURSELF!"

..

..

..

"Ara, ara... You seemed to be quite in a good mood today Juvia-san." A familiar female voice cut her train of thought, prompting her to turn around and saw Mirajane with a plate on her hands for the servings. She was actually taking a break after a long time serving time with the guildmembers at the still ongoing party before them.

"Mira-san!" Juvia exclaimed but her eyes suddenly shifted towards another girl behind her, wearing the same barmaid dress as the head waitress but with a darker color apart from Mirajane's maroon dress.

She also has a plate in her hands which seemed like she handles the same job as Mirajane.

"Mirai-san! You're working again? It's your welcoming party so you should celebrate along with the others." The water mage could only spoke in surprise at the black-haired girl who only gave a shy smile at her.

"W-Well, I just thought of helping Mira-san out since she mostly serves all of the people around here. I thought about working the same as her to lessen her burden." She shyly spoke before raising the plate just at her face to hide her embarrassment.

"Ah, you don't need to worry about me Mirai. I'm a S-Class mage so this kind of things is normal for me. Though I do appreciate your offer."

"I- I'm just helping out a friend." Mirai simply smiled, getting Mirajane to giggle in delight as she found herself another waitress to help out her everyday chores.

The last thing she should be worried about is for the black-haired girl to become quite used to what transpired around here everyday.

If by mean everyday, she would mean about the brawl fights and the mess after its long run inside the guild. She'll just have let her to deal with the handling of requests for the time being until she can get used to it.

Leave the fighting to the head waitress.

Speaking about fighting, Mirajane suddenly remembered Natsu and his team going after Gray. She could only hope for the pinkette to reach out to him. Knowing the fire dragonslayer, he might have succeeded in letting them come along with Gray.

She doesn't know what the ice mage is up to but she could only pray for Natsu to accompany him to wherever he is going. Though she wished them a good trip together with Mirai earlier, she couldn't help but feel slightly lonely without the presence of her favorite dragonslayer.

She guessed that she'll have to bear with it a little while longer until the whole problem was sorted out. This will be also her best time to discuss about the topic they shared earlier with Natsu. If she's going to make a move, she'll need to prepare herself.

As Mirajane was left occupied with her thoughts at the moment, Mirai and Juvia were left to talk to each other for the time being. They introduced to each other briefly and easily befriended each other in a short time until silence enveloped between them.

They didn't talk afterwards as they simply sat across each other, looking at different places as long as they don't get into eye contact. In Mirai's case, she could not help but feel slightly shy around her.

It didn't help to calm her nervousness down when the water mage suddenly looked back at her with anticipation which made her fidget uncomfortably.

A few minutes of helplessly watching herself being observed by the water mage didn't do her any good until Juvia decided to speak.

"Mirai-san... ..."

"Y-Yes!" She suddenly jolted into attention.

"You're not hitting on Gray-sama aren't you?"

* * *

 _ **Back at Team Natsu... ...**_

The group went on towards the forest as the sun was shining its last light unto the world with the darkness slowly creeping up from the opposite horizon. They all talked and conversed about each other though it was mainly pointed about Gray who still wouldn't tell about the reason of going into a job.

It's not like he was leading themselves into a trap... Gray would never do that. Well at least, not in that kind of way.

Though it's a good thing that he's letting them to come along in his journey but Natsu couldn't keep himself any longer about having secrets and shits like that. It gave him some discomfort whenever someone was hiding some secrets which really made him curious.

He couldn't help it. It's only his way of knowing things.

"So are you gonna tell us now?" Natsu asked for the umpteenth time to which made Gray irritated by his persistence.

Yup, it's really that annoying.

"Just shut up will ya? You'll learn all of it when we get there." Gray replied with an uncaring tone.

"Well fuck it! I can't wait any longer... Can you just give a hint of something? About what kind of journey this is?" Natsu pressed on with the rest of the group waiting behind him to hear what he has to say about it.

Gray finally blew it. He turned around with an annoying look on his face mainly delivered towards the fire dragonslayer.

"I told you. I'm not telling you. Damn, why are you so meddlesome?" Gray hissed before turning back and led the way for the team.

Natsu and the rest went silent as they had no choice but to comply to his conditions for now. The pinkette didn't like the way he is trying to keep his secret from them. For someone like him, he's really enjoying having some authority over them. Wait till he gets Erza running the questioning then we'll see who's having authority.

He was just about to do the same thought inside his mind when Gray sighed before speaking.

"Arkhan..."

"Huh?" A couple of head tilted in confusion as they heard the unusual word.

"The place where we headed is Arkhan." Gray spoke.

"Isn't that an ancient ruin?" Lucy asked as she managed to familiarize the word.

"You know about it Lucy?" Erza asked to which the blonde mage nodded in response.

"You see, Arkhan was once an ancient city of Fiore established by the first humans who walked here on this land. It is said that they held an legendary artifact so powerful that it was fought by many kingdoms surrounding the city itself." She paused as Wendy raised a hand in question.

"So Arkhan was an independent city?"

"Yes, according to what I've read so far about this ancient city, the people decided to lock away the artifact and hid it from the greedy kings since the artifact itself was never meant to be possessed by anyone. The people were only tasked of safeguarding the artifact and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands."

"So how did they hid it away?" Sara questioned.

"They performed a ritual that made the city to collapse from its footing and bury artifact itself deep in the underground so that no one would ever possess it. It was only a myth though since no one actually seen the artifact itself nor do anyone who knows what kind it is. There are some who tried to dig for the artifact but they found no such thing." She paused...

"... The city was discovered but the mystery about the artifact remains unsolved."

Lucy finished which slightly made the others gape in surprise from the history of the place except for Natsu who had absolutely no idea of what she had just said.

"I don't get it..." Natsu spoke confusingly.

"I wouldn't be surprised but nevertheless, it's thing about the artifact was just a myth. The plans of excavation for the city was abandoned and shelved since they viewed it nothing more but a prehistoric structure." The celestial mage then looked over to the ice mage who was standing out the most of them.

"So why do you need to go to that place?"

Hearing the question, everyone looked back at the ice mage with curiosity. Gray simply turned away and faced the road ahead of them before looking up to the orange sky with a solemn look on his face.

"Arcanex Reversinum... That's the name of the artifact buried within Arkhan."

Natsu and the others could only widen their eyes in shock.

"So it's all true?" Lucy asked.

Gray didn't answer but he nodded lightly before explaining about the said artifact.

"The Arcanex Reversinum was an ancient artifact that can give anyone time in their life."

"What do you mean? Wendy asked.

"It's said to have the power to bring back the time of an individual when he reaches the age of death."

"So it's like a device that can turn you back into your younger self?" Sara guessed to which Gray simply nodded in response before looking back at them with a serious look present in his eyes.

"Why would you need a time device?" Erza followed another question.

Gray breathed for a moment before looking at them with determined eyes fixed to them.

..

..

..

"Ultear..."

* * *

 **A/N: And done! Finally it's done. Sorry guys for the long update. I failed to announce it on the last chapter about me starting class so I'm at fault for not informing you guys.**

 **So for a more detailed information about what's happening lately, I started out class and my time here was greatly shortened from weekdays to weekends only. Yep, it's the start of the dark age for me lol.**

 **Well jokes aside, I can only update on weekends unlike what I did on my previous chapter which was everyday :( As a result, my updates became infrequent and it would take time for me to return back to my usual updates on December so bear with me guys.**

 **And now, unto to the chapter.**

 **Yes... This is the start of a major arc involving Ultear. I'm a fan of UltearxNatsu since she was so hot to begin with especially her change after the Tenrou arc. And also, she needs more attention every now and then since of what happened to her fate at the manga (I'm not crying dammit!).** **:'(**

 **Well anyways, for the next chapters I can only give a hypothesis; Arcanex Reversinum + Ultear = ? ? ? ? ? ?  
**

 **You decide :)**

 **And then again, thanks for the reviews and the favs and follows guys! I'm glad you're liking this story. I would be also trying some crossovers in the future soon too so look forward to it.**

* * *

 **Some additional replies on the later reviews.. :)**

 **1.) _Jalis_ : Thank you! As always, I really appreciate your thoughts about the story. Seems like everyone is liking Mirai. Glad you like it!**

 **2.) _DEVILLICIOUS666_ : About Zeref? Yes, I already written the plots for the story though that part will not come early from this story but from a sequel of this story if this gets enough attention to the readers. So in the meantime, I'll stick to the present arcs I have in store for Natsu and the others. (I started at GMG so it will take time xD)**

 **3.) _TheInnerBeast_ : Thank you! Well some are already thinking it that way but it was the sole reason why I created this story. And of course, I respect your opinion. Feel free to express your thoughts. It gives me motivation to write better. I can only hope that it will help you acknowledge the story more in the future. :)**

* * *

 **That's about it for now guys. See ya on the next chapter. Special poll coming right up on the next chapter. :)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


	19. Arcanex Reversinum

**A/N: Yaa! Hoo! wiErD here. Back with another chapter. :) Of course, the special poll is now available on my profile. Feel free to vote your favorite girls :)**

 **So, we stopped at the Gray. This chapter will now feature a more concrete detail about what he's been up to all this time. So let's reveal it right here in this chapter.**

* * *

 **Now unto to the reviews :)**

 **1. _SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan:_** Thank you for your review. Ultear needs some saving this time. Well as I shipper I say, Ultear FTW!

 **2. _ValinNight:_** True since I want to also improve Gray's character as well. Weird? Well that's my name stands for. My stories are way too weird. Jokes aside, we'll bound to find out on the next chapters. Look forward to it!

 **3. _mmaallek:_** Don't worry the poll won't be featuring Ultear yet since this was a major arc involving her. I can't just possibly put her to the poll and start her own arc whereas her own major arc had just finished. It might boggle my mind a bit but just like all the other girls like Mirai and Sara, She'll have her own arc soon.

And yes also to that. Harem stories are my most difficult stories to finish since it weighs a lot of feelings in every possible girl in the story. I won't be also pushing the dragon-mate thing over to the edge. This is still a Rated T story. It was merely an introduction to the readers if they want a harem end or a one-sided end in the future so I won't rush it. Till then, enjoy the story and pick your best girl in the future. :)

P.S. Of course, Mirai is the most probably the innocent person next to Natsu so she won't be always pulled into that type of discussion.

 **4. _NatsuHaremFan:_** Lol xD. Is that really common in other stories where Natsu needs to advance his age to save Ultear? Well he's a demon so he won't mind (Sorry for the spoilers.) But no, it's not something like that. I would do something different in order for the arc to carry out nicely. :) And you're welcome!

 **5. _holmestalentsmaster:_** (Chapter 14) No harm done. You stated your opinion and I would gladly accept it. So again, I'm very sorry about that. It's just her first arc so I'll be making more as their character develops in each of every chapter I posted. and thank you again. I'll definitely work hard in making her a more suitable arc that can help her character develop together with the others. :)

 **6. _FireDragonSpider-Mane6:_** It will be revealed further more :) And thank again for reviewing!

P.S. It's just an introduction or rather a choice if readers wanted it to be a harem end. That's why I didn't pursue to the topic much to give you all some choices for the desired girls you want for Natsu. Mirai is quite the housewife so it's suitable for her to work as a barmaid together with her but she'll have to watch out for Mira though. (You know... two girls, same love interest xD)

* * *

 **Have Fun and Happy Reading guys! :)**

 **Disclaimer: 19th! 19th! time that I will be saying this. I don't own Fairy Tail or its characters. All goes to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 **\- Arcanex Reversinum -**

It's been two days since they all departed from the guild. They took the road path towards Arkhan since there was a certain someone who insisted in walking rather than taking a train towards their destination that could've made save them a lot of time. But with Natsu complaining whenever they suggested a transportation in every moment, they don't have much of a choice.

Gray wouldn't mind though. He'd seen too much of his rival's shameful side whenever they're in a transportation so he'd really need something like that right now. Aside from his anticipation of seeing his rival squirm inside a transportation, he had to take one in order to get there as soon as he can to get the search started at an early pace.

Last night was quite uncomfortable to him. At that time, he had no choice but to tell everything he had done so far over the past few days.

What happened to the hiding-the-secret thing that he was supposed to do?

He spilled the beans and told them almost about everything, starting from his plans about Ultear up to his present actions. Though he never explained to them the real situation behind Ultear herself as he didn't want everyone to know the truth.

It would be best for him to simply just take the device and use it on her to hide the truth especially to the pinkette.

He had seen much of Natsu's actions whenever it involve something about life. And Ultear's taboo is one that he'll never come to pass if the truth was leaked to him.

..

..

His explanation completely baffled everyone since he had actually started in the time where he had taken a job alone and heard everything about the ancient ruin.

Right now, he was in the midst of explaining everything from a time where he had heard the rumor about the artifact.

He was currently infront of them, trying to keep their attention back at him while walking. Erza, Lucy and the two dragonslayers were simply walking behind him in just a couple of centimeters away, seemingly intrigued about his story. Meanwhile, Natsu was behind the girls trying to catch up to their conversation as he possibly could with his slow brain.

His trusty Exceed, Happy was resting atop of his head with a small bubble present on his nose, expanding and contracting in his breathing processes. Well, at least he had little entertainment coming from his partner and it never cease to amaze him of how he was able to keep that bubble going. Too bad he only snores up flames which could have the potential to burn his home down unknowingly, if not for his Exceed's constant reminders of sleeping next to a wooden structure.

Aside from his sleeping problems, he looked again towards Gray who was still explaining everything to them about his plans in getting back Ultear.

He doesn't know much about the said woman but he could remember that she was a former member of their sworn enemy guild, Grimoire Heart. The events from Tenrou Island did not recede from his mind as it brought him and his family many pain and he couldn't shake the fact that their leader was their guild's second guild master, next to Gramps.

Things happened and it all ended with them going into a deep slumber for seven years to save them from the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.

His face suddenly frowned after mentioning of a dragon in his thought. He still has many questions involving about that dragon as he had hoped to find some answers from him about Igneel and the others but Gildarts and Gramps knew better of him being an enemy to them and the whole mankind.

He shook his head sideways as he tries to wave off the disturbing thought out of his mind.

There's still a task ahead. He'll have to think about it some other time.

Right now, they have a mission to retrieve some long lost artifact that can give anyone time to their lives and possibly make them younger once again. Though he did not understand the fact of why Ultear would need such a thing.

I mean, he was sure that she was still in her younger years and was also still progressing. He just doesn't see the reason of why she would need it to become young and how she managed to convince Gray to do the thing for her.

 _'Now that you think about it, I haven't seen her for quite some time... I heard she was in that guild, Crime Sorciere but he never had the time to say how they're doing over the past couple of years at least.'_ Natsu pondered in thought.

It didn't occur to him to have the liberty in saying hello to them since he had no such connections with them in the first place. And even if he wanted to, they don't show up like the usual way since they're still being framed as criminals of their past crimes.

Sometimes, he could feel slightly irritated about the Council putting up bounties on their heads even though they're trying to make the world a better place.

Can't they just let them go freely? But he couldn't say it like that since he knew of their crimes in the past and how he was scared at the Council until now.

Sure, they were enemies but it was a long time ago and they're all trying to redeem themselves of their past sins and helped the magic world behind the shadows in taking out dark guilds.

It didn't take long for the fire dragonslayer to become quite jealous about their line of work.

Well though it involved in eradicating the dark guilds associated in worshiping Zeref, the fact of taking the whole dark guild greatly made him fired up from the inside.

I mean, just imagine the possibilities of taking a dark guild almost everyday. It was like a chore to them and they all can take care of it in the flick of a finger. And since he hears that it only contained three members, he would imagine them to be badass, walking over a pile of defeated dark mages from their path with a trail of smoking wreck can be seen behind their backs.

Shit, he would like to join them if ever they inform them about taking out a dark guild again...

They can't just take all the glory to themselves and don't talk shit about it. At least, let him tag along with them for some time.

Well aside from their line of work, Natsu immediately turned back to his original question.

"Hey Gray!" Natsu shouted from behind, interrupting the ice mage as he looked towards the fire mage with an uncaring look despite being questioned.

"What do you want now?" He replied in a cold tone.

"It's about Ultear... Do you know where she is right now?" The fire dragonslayer asked curiously.

As soon as Natsu had mentioned the time mage, Gray simply turned his head again away from him and proceeded to walk in front of them and lead them to their destination.

"There's nothing more to be said about her..."

"Huh?" Natsu could only quirk an eyebrow after seeing his sudden actions upon mentioning the woman's name.

"Gray? Are you alright?" Lucy began to ask worriedly as she also noticed his sudden change in behavior after mentioning the name of the time mage.

"It's nothing... Let's just go."

Lucy and the others could only look at each other as they simply followed what he said afterwards.

The trip went silent as the team didn't speak to each other for a moment. Even Erza didn't want to start a conversation despite her being a S-Class mage.

With Gray leading them towards their destination, she'll just have to play it through before doing something else. Not much she had known about Ultear but if the journey was something related to the said mage, then Jellal might be there too.

At the thought of the blue-haired mage, Erza suddenly shook off the thought itself out of her head. It's not like she doesn't want to see him but she could somehow feel awkward when she meets him again.

She still doesn't know what to do if she confronted him again, knowing that she already chose for someone else.

Sure, she was about to like him but Natsu had shown her way from every thick and thin and he managed to dig himself a place in her heart. His words always encouraged him ever since that time from the Tower of Heaven-

No... It wasn't at that time. It was from that time from their date a few days back. Natsu had comforted her that no one else could. He was able to see through her feelings of how much she wanted his presence more than ever. It was through him that she was able to change this much. He was the only one who could only break her strong facade with only just a toothy smile to which she always find it heart-warming and lovable at the same time.

It was because of him that she finally opened her heart and followed her feelings.

And it was time for her to move on... She will definitely tell him about her current feelings as of now that she finally found someone that she truly loves with all her heart.

Right now, she's gonna do it right this time.

Setting her feelings aside, Erza looked over to the dragonslayer behind her who was trying to wake his Exceed up from his head. She could only giggle as she found him trying to shake him off from his head but to no avail.

Natsu however was able to notice her glance which prompted him to turn over his attention to her and grinned back. A small blush went up to the scarlet knight's face as she immediately saw his gaze upon her.

She instantly looked back towards her direction as she could feel her heart beating uncontrollably.

"Are you alright Erza-san?" Sara asked curiously.

"I-It's nothing..."

..

..

..

Meanwhile, Lucy was trying to dig something from the ice mage and wanted to figure out his motives but it proved to be quite difficult if she could only use observation from his actions and his plans involving Ultear.

"Hey Gray..." The celestial mage tried to ask.

"Yeah?"

"About Ultear, why do you want the artifact so much?"

Again, Gray suddenly went silent and ignored her question as they continued to walk towards their destination which made the celestial mage to worry.

"I know it's something you don't want to talk about but you should at least seek help from us. We're your friends right?"

"I'm sorry Lucy but it's just that... ... ... ...you're all not prepared to hear of what really happened to her..."

"What do you mean? Did something bad happen to Ultear?" She asked worriedly but Gray could only grit his teeth in frustration as several of his memories flashed back towards the time where he had witnessed everything that the time mage had done to them back at the GMG. He could still remember those painful flashbacks as he failed to realize of how much Ur and Ultear had sacrificed for his sake.

But he failed to give something in return. In the end, they both accepted their fates and moved on as they entrusted their faith to them.

No! He isn't gonna accept that! This time is going to be different, he's definitely gonna repay Ur and her daughter for all their deeds for him and his friends. He will never abandon a family member behind.

She's not exactly a family member but since Ur was his mentor, he considers her a part of the family.

So that's why he'll do everything in his power to bring her back. And this is the only thing that he could only do to save her. She had suffered enough and she was already forgiven but there's always someone who needed her to come back to them even after everything was said and done.

They all wanted her to come back... Her bonds with her comrades are not that easily broken.

He had to set aside his thoughts about the time mage as he looked back at the celestial mage with a reassuring smile written on his face.

"It's not right to discuss everything... Once we get to the ruins, I'll explain everything..." He finally replied.

Lucy wasn't truly convinced at his statement but she'll just have to believe him for now. She knows of what he's been going through and she wanted to respect him as he was her friend.

"Alright... If you ever need anything to talk about something, just tell us okay? We're right here with you Gray." Lucy put up a reassuring smile to which he returned the favor before turning his attention towards the road and continue to lead them.

..

..

..

"Fwuaaa... I'm so hungry... I need some delicious flames right now.." Natsu whined as he could feel his stomach growling inside. He didn't get a full meal back at the house with Mirai since he was on a rush to catch up to the ice mage, after concealing his scent from them yesterday.

He was really expecting her delicious food since she helped him to make other foods aside from grilled meat. It's just a shame that they all have to depart on a journey to catch up with Gray, leaving Mirai and Raven behind since they are not mages. It will be a big problem for him if those two are in danger in one of these jobs.

For some reason, he was tasked in taking care of them while they're outside the village since he took the responsibility in looking out for them in Magnolia. Not to mention, he also offered them a place to stay which kinda gives him also the fact that he's taking care of their other expenses.

And to suddenly depart at an unfortunate time is kinda bad for him. He could remember the time when they all bid their farewells to the two including Mira outside the guild yesterday. Raven was a bit crestfallen since he and Happy were now actually best buddies at the short span of time and seeing the Exceed going out for a job greatly saddens him.

Well, at least Asuka could play with him for the time being. Mirai, on the other hand, was also feeling a bit sad though she didn't try to show it in front of everyone. Natsu was able to notice it and could not help but feel guilty about going out for a job while they're on a middle of the celebration.

He might wanna do something for her when he gets back. It's just not fair for him to do nothing about it especially with their talk the other night.

Yup, he's definitely gonna do something when he gets back. For now, he'll just have to focus in helping Gray recover some long-lost artifact that will help Ultear though he doesn't know how it would help her in such a way.

"Are we there yet?" He tried to ask.

"We're not yet there Natsu-san... You need to be patient..." Wendy simply replied with a smile as she walked beside him, carrying Charle in her hands.

"But I'm hungry..." He whined.

"Why don't you ask Happy?"

"He's asleep and doesn't bother waking up too soon... I bet he's enjoying his dream eating fishes." He shrugged as he put out a pouting face towards the roads to which Wendy finds it amusing as she could only giggle at his actions.

They soon talked about things as Sara and the other girls joined in with their conversation while Gray focused his task ahead in leading them. Happy was still in deep sleep as he wasn't bothered by the noise and simply resumed his sleep as he dreamed about drowning himself in fishes.

They've been walking for hours and they still don't see a ruin around them. All they could see is an open field with short grasses that bend gracefully from the breeze of the wind as they passed through. There are no people around the area which they assumed that this place was quite isolated from the outside. A few animals roamed around the fields as they all come in packs, which mostly contained families in them. There are some eating the grass as their source of food while others just roam around, playing with their own kind.

The team continued to walk towards the road as they watched the sight of the animals around them.

Then, after a few moments, Gray stopped in his tracks, prompting the rest of them to stop too.

"Hey Gray! Why are we stopping?" Natsu was the first to ask the question as he simply shouted from behind, hoping to get his attention to him. Gray simply looked at the direction, ignoring his question which immediately ticked him off though he kept himself from exploding due to the help of the bluenette.

"Is something wrong Gray?" Sara asked worriedly as she could see his eyes narrowing towards the road.

After a few seconds of tensing his sight at the road he walked over a few steps ahead of them which slightly confused them. He placed his hands in front of him in an open-palm manner before glowing himself in magic.

Oddly enough, the space before him was starting to distort as his magic was causing some sort of interference at the space itself. Natsu and the others became cautious as they don't know what the ice mage is doing. After a few seconds, they all soon heard a huge crack coming from the space infront of Gray. The cracks became bigger as they gave a loud noise until multiple cracks appeared from everywhere.

And in a moment, the space suddenly breaks apart, looking like broken glasses as it revealed another image ahead of them. It was a huge forest which spans over a few kilometers wide. The size of the forest itself was unknown as the tall trees sprouted out long and thick branches from above which concealed the sight above them.

The road they were following was long gone as it disappeared together with the space that Gray had seemingly dispelled. The presence of the animals still lingered as they weren't affected by the spell either.

The group were simply astonished at the sight as they tried to process their thoughts of the situation. However, Erza wasn't exactly surprised as she easily recognized the type of spell that was summoned before them.

 _'An illusion spell... But this is not some ordinary spell at all... ... It managed to conceal a whole forest this large...'_ She thought out in amazement.

She then looked at Gray who returned back to his usual composure before glancing around to them with a blank look on his face.

"Well then, let's go..." But before he could even receive a reply, Erza suddenly asked.

"How did you know that there was an illusion spell planted here?"

"My clients created it to prevent other people from knowing the place. The ruins is just ahead, we don't want anyone to interfere in our journey. The artifact is very valuable so even with this setup, it will eventually caught up wind for the dark guilds or treasure hunting guilds to know about the place and will undoubtedly try to reclaim it." He explained.

"We?" Natsu and the others suddenly butted in.

"You'll meet them soon... We're also gonna need their help in tracking the artifact down the ruins."

"True, but I never expected your client to have the power to conceal the whole place... Mages, I presume?" The scarlet knight continued. Gray could only nod.

"Let's go... It won't be a matter of time before someone manages to find the place... And I think you already know them."

The others simply wore confusing looks at each other as Gray continued to display his strange behavior to them.

And with that, Gray set off once again ahead of the group to which they followed without complaining. They knew from his eyes that the mission is kinda serious and dangerous since they're about to venture into one of Fiore's ancient ruins to which they have no idea of what is has in store for them once they enter inside.

At the same time, Happy manages to wake himself up from his long dream only to have himself baffled at the unusual place he and his dragonslayer were in.

They finally stepped into the thick forest as the thick canopies blocked most of the sunlight from the outside which makes the inside kinda dark. It didn't pose as a problem for the dragonslayers though as they have heightened senses. Plus, Natsu was eventually used as a human torch to light up the way together with Gray who was leading them towards the ruins.

The inside of the forest was so surreal. Everything was quite large, mainly to the trees as they all walked over from its giant roots.

If you ever take a good look around, it would seemed like a sanctuary for giant people or some other new world.

..

..

It didn't take long for them to reach into the ruins as they managed to see a glimpse of an eroded structure that shaped like a pyramid right ahead of them. Apart from the alignment of the trees around them, the ruins seemed to be devoid of any lush green pasture as its soil was simply covered in dry land. What's more strange is that the ruins didn't outgrew some mosses and plants as its structures remained intact from the seemingly possible collapse though it sustained some damages due to its long stillness and the lack of people maintaining it for a very long time.

Natsu and the others could only gape in surprise at the ancient ruin before them.

"Woah..."

"So this is Arkhan? The ancient city that housed the Arcanex Reversinum?" Lucy asked curiously.

"That's right..." Gray spoke.

"It's so strange..." Wendy and Sara could only speak of its oddity of preservation. Normally, ruins like these would actually have fallen into disrepair from the presence of nature but it seems like the plants never made its way to the ruins itself.

"It would seemed like my clients are also here..." Gray slightly smiled as he looked above him and fixated his eyes over a giant branch to which he briefly whistled to create a signal.

After a few seconds, two cloaked figures jumped out from the said branch and landed between the ice mage and the group. It also took a few seconds before the two figures finally unveiled their hoods and revealed themselves to the team, shocking them in the process.

"It's been a long time, Fairy Tail." A familiar male voice sounded from the two figures as they all recognized the person who first spoke to them.

"Jellal!?" Natsu and the others exclaimed in surprise as the blue-haired mage simply gave a small bow to them before regaining his composure.

"Hi everyone..." A rather timid reply came from the other cloaked person to which they also recognized the familiarity of its voice.

"Meredy?!" Everyone except Sara and Natsu soon spoke in surprise at the presence of the pink-haired girl who simply returned a slight smile at them before bowing in a lady-like manner to them despite her current clothes.

"Who's that?" Natsu curiously asked which made the whole team jawdropped in disbelief as the fire dragonslayer asked for the former dark mage's name.

"Stupid! (Baka!) That's Meredy... One of the former Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory... She's a member of Crime Sorciere now... Don't you remember?" Happy tried to remind the pinkette but he seemed to have forgotten about her since he doesn't actually talk to her much often.

Meanwhile, Meredy simply disregarded the pink-haired dragonslayer's obliviousness and simply looked over to the blonde-haired dragonslayer.

"So who are you? I believe we haven't met yet..." The bubbly pink-haired mage simply asked.

"I'm Sara Hatsumi... I just recently joined Fairy Tail and also a new member of Natsu team... Nice to meet you!" Sara simply smiled as she reached out a hand after her introduction.

"I'm Meredy! Nice to meet you Sara! I hope we can get along!" The former dark mage simply returned the favor and shook hands as they all finally got themselves introduced to each other.

Jella simply looked over to the ice mage who standing out the most from the reunion with his arms crossed.

"I thought you were coming alone..."

"Tell that to the Flame-brain... I couldn't possibly deny it. The guy has some good nose."

"Natsu huh? Well, I'm glad it was him.." Jellal simply mused before looking at the fire dragonslayer with a smile on his face.

Erza, on the other hand was simply dumbfounded at the appearance of the member of Crime Sorciere, mainly to Jellal since she haven't saw him for quite some time. The blue-haired mage simply looked over to the scarlet knight before giving a light introduction.

"It's been a while Erza..."

"Y-Yeah, it's been awhile..." The redhead could only put up a halfhearted reply at the blue-haired mage as she returned the greeting.

"... So about the illusion spell back there-" She continued, only to be answered by the pink-haired girl.

"Oh, Jellal set it all up. He wanted to make sure that the place was concealed from any onlookers who might able to stumble upon these ruins." She beamed at the redhead.

"N-No, it's alright. I'm just surprised that's all." But just as the scarlet knight was about to change the topic, she finally noticed the lack of a dark, purple haired mage with them and couldn't help but ask.

"Why isn't Ultear with you guys?"

Gray and the two Crime Sorciere mages simply looked at each other with worried looks on their faces as they felt greatly saddened after hearing the name of the missing mage of the independent guild. Natsu and the others could only look at them with confusion as the three couldn't really tell about the time-mage.

..

Jellal looked over to the ice mage as he'd hoped for an approval nod from him to which he gave a reluctant one afterwards before looking back at the pink-haired girl companion. Meredy could only put up a sad smile at the older mage and nodded completely before turning her face towards the confused group.

"It seems that you guys must finally know the truth of what really happened to Ultear and to why we have brought you here with the help of your friend, Gray..."

Everyone seemed tense for some reason as they immediately listened to what he has to say about the situation. Natsu, however was beginning to feel uneasy.

"Ultear... ... ... is no longer here." Jellal spoke, earning the group some shocking gasps as they didn't really know of what happened to the time mage themselves. Only Gray was able to notice it years back and had been blaming himself for not noticing it soon.

"What do you mean no longer here? What happened to her?" Natsu now began to ask the blue-haired mage after hearing such a disturbing statement.

"Well, she's not gone... ... She just disappeared." He continued.

"Disappeared?" The group could only ask in confusion but Jellal and the others who knew of what happened to Ultear simply shook their heads.

"Do all of you believe about taboos in every aspect of magic?" The blue-haired mage began to ask the group. The group was seemed to be aware of the fact of their own magic having taboos as they all went silent after being asked about the said topic.

Jellal and others noticed this but decided to continue further.

"You see, every magic has taboos to which some are yet to be known by magic users since it was rarely being exploited upon even to other mages as well. There are some magics are already have been classified to know their taboos, including Ultear's." He paused...

As soon as he said that, a couple of heads from the team suddenly widen their eyes in surprise as they managed to find out of the time-mage's magic and its taboo.

"... During the battle at the Grand Magic Games, Ultear.. she... ..." He stopped as he couldn't put the thought in words for a moment before finding the courage to say it infront of them.

"... ...She used her magic's forbidden taboo."

Then again, everyone made a collective gasp of shock as they heard that someone had actually used a forbidden taboo of their own magic. And at this time, Natsu was already seething himself in anger as he doesn't seemed to like to where the topic is going. Using taboos is one thing that he would not possibly avoid whether they're his ally or not. It is very wrong to use such a thing since this kind of action will deal unknown consequences to the user and Natsu doesn't want it to happen to his friends.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Natsu could not help but vent his anger at them for concealing the truth about what happened to Ultear. Maybe that's why she was not with them. Something must've happened to her after using the taboo but he didn't know what effects she had to suffer for using it.

At first, the two Crime Sorciere mages didn't speak about the fate of their comrade in respect for her but since Natsu and the others are here, they believed that they should deserve the truth.

"Do any of you noticed something disturbing in the flow of time during the battle at the Grand Magic Games?" Jellal asked.

"Well, yes if you're referring about the Eclipse Gate..." Lucy guessed. The blue-haired mage simply shook his head disapprovingly, knowing that it was the wrong answer.

"Not that... I was referring about the time when you all managed to predict about what was going to happen to you..." He spoke. Gray cringed as he recalled his memories of himself being impaled not one but many times by those humanoid dragons five years ago.

"Now that you mentioned it, I kinda feel odd that time... Rogue and that dragon were trying to attack me and my Uncle to the left but suddenly, we predicted it." Natsu pondered in thought.

"Uncle?" A couple of head tilted in confusion as both Crime Sorciere and his team simply looked at him dead in the eye with an unconvincing look written on their face.

"Me too. It also happened when me and Mira-san we're fighting Zirconis. For some reason we're able to predict his movements in a short while which we took advantage to win the fight." Wendy added as she joined in the conversation.

"Indeed... It didn't only occur to us but to the whole world as well." Jellal nodded as he looked at them with an unassertive look.

"What do you mean by that?" Erza asked.

"The effects of Ultear's magic has something to do with time... And I know for a fact that she used it to turn back time..." Natsu and the others could only gape in surprise.

"T-Turn back time?" Sara asked, hoping for a confirmation. Jella nodded before continuing.

"And because of that, every living being noticed a slight distortion of time which helped us to predict about the events that had transpired at the same place and in a short time..." he paused.

"... It was thanks to Ultear that we were able to avoid our hellish fate. But, it greatly cost her."

"What happened to her?" Wendy and Sara asked although they knew that it's not pleasant for them to say it since the outcome might be grave or sometimes gruesome.

Jellal and Meredy could only grit their teeth in frustration as they looked away in disbelief, knowing everything of what happened to their comrade was not something to be discussed in front of them even though they were friends.

It was also then Natsu gripped Jellal's clothes as he began to demand some answers of what is really happening.

"Tell me! Right now! What happened to her?! Where is she?" He shouted as he gripped his clothes tighter, unable to hold off his anger.

"Natsu... Stop it." Gray tried to calm him down. Erza and the others could look at the pinkette in worry. They never seen him so angry before. Knowing his love for his family and friends, it was quite expected though not in this kind of way where he is at the boiling point. His face has already changed in anger, indicating his discomfort about not hearing everything from them.

Even though, he hadn't met her that much, she was still his comrade who helped them in every possible way. And finally learning of what happened to her in these last five years greatly angers him.

Jellal could only stand there unmoving as he wasn't fazed by Natsu's threat and could only look away in depression. Meredy was tugging his clothes, hoping to see if he's gonna be alright from the fire dragonslayer.

"What's wrong?! Why won't you tell me?!" Natsu pressed on but Gray had enough.

Just as the pinkette was about to knock him senseless, his left arm was grabbed by Gray who simply lowered the temperature of his hand to cool the fire dragonslayer down.

"I told you to calm down Natsu! Why won't you understand?! There are some things in this world that are not meant to be shared by anyone and you still try to involve yourself..." He paused as his feelings were slowly drowning in anger.

"...Jellal and Meredy had it rough and they don't want to remember it! Same goes for me! I tried to move on but I just can't seemed to let it go just like that! Ultear insisted us to move on but we feel that it is not right... That's why we searched all over Fiore to find this ruin and save her once again. If you really truly valued her well-being, then you should just let it go and focus on the task ahead."

Natsu could only stare at the ice mage with a narrowed look in his eyes. He was still pissed about concealing their secret from them but he knew that in Jellal's eyes, it was definitely something worth not knowing in respect for her. He would've guessed that Gray knows about it too as he's been trying hard to forget all about it and focused on trying to bring her back.

He finally loosened his grip on Jellal and finally stepped back.

"Sorry... I wasn't really thinking. Sorry Jellal." He apologized as he looked to the blue-haired mage who simply regained his composure after being forcefully gripped by him.

"It's alright. I know what you feel and that's why I was relieved that you're all here with us..." Jellal then looked towards Meredy and Gray before nodding in response and continued further.

"The reason we came here is because the ruin contains the artifact that can give an individual a chance to live once again by reversing one's time progress or rather its aging process. I assume that Gray probably told you about it." He inquired.

"Yes."

"So about the ruins, do you guys gathered anything about it?" Erza inquired.

"We gathered information about the city itself. The entire city itself was currently buried a couple of meters below us which it makes it hard for us to infiltrate the site itself." Jellal explained.

"But didn't some people already excavate the place before. Couldn't we just use their abandoned sites." Lucy proposed.

"We also considered that option. Unfortunately, the excavation in this place was unable to progress itself due to the deepness of the ruin itself. Which means, the place wasn't really exploited yet... Though there are some other reasons of why it wasn't able to progress to which we have no knowledge upon it."

"So we cannot enter the place then." Erza concluded.

"No. We already did some plans in using some of our magics to locate the entrance." Meredy butted in.

"Really?" They could only widen their eyes in surprise.

"It must've taken you guys a lot of time to prepare this..." Erza mused as she could only imagine of how much time they had dedicated their research on these ruins for the past five years.

"Well, if it means saving Ultear, we'll gladly use that time to devote ourselves in finding a way to bring her back." Jellal replied as he looked over to the redhead with a small smile in his face.

"Do you know where the entrance is?" Happy asked for the first time to the group. Jellal simply pointed his finger before the space to where it was pointed, distorted before breaking into tiny pieces and revealed an ancient staircase that leads to the underground.

Natsu and the other could only gawk at the sight as they peeked over to the stairs that leads towards underneath the ruin. The lack of light from the underground prevented them from seeing what lies ahead of the staircase as they could only see piles of rubble and cobwebs in all places.

"That's quite an entrance... " Sara spoke about its ruinous state.

"Q-Quite scary too." Wendy quivered as she ran behind Natsu, for protection. Charle simply rolled her eyes at her dragonslayer's actions. Despite her growing years, she still has the habit of being scared by spooky things such as this.

"So this is the place huh? Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Natsu spoke as he and Happy first took the steps with Wendy and Sara following them.

Jellal and the others could only nod at each other as they also followed the fire dragonslayer inside.

"Well, the dragonslayer has spoken. Let's go inside." He spoke as they all finally entered into the ruins.

Unaware for them a cloaked figure who managed to conceal himself from their sights, smirked underneath his collar before raising a ball of lacrima in his hands and began to return to where he came from.

"It seems master will be pleased to hear this discovery..."

* * *

 _ **Inside Arkhan...**_

Natsu led the group towards the dark hallway as he used his flame to light up the way with the group behind him. Ancient writings and stone tools are seen everywhere as they passed along. There are some stone carvings in some walls to which it depicted some creatures.

"Woah... I've never seen like this before." Natsu looked around in awe as he continued his way towards the hall. Other are also intrigued by the fascinations done by the ancient people in the past.

"This is our first job involving something of an ancient ruin so I think it's quite normal for us." Sara replied before looking over to another carving that caught her attention.

"Hey everyone.. Take a look of this.." She called out to which they all turned at her and proceeded towards her.

"What is it Sara?" Wendy asked the wind dragonslayer.

"Look..." She pointed a certain carving in the wall which made everyone to widen their eyes in surprise as they recognized the carving itself.

"A dragon." Natsu spoke. Jellal however simply pondered in thought as he began to come up a possible explanation of the carving itself.

"It would seemed like that this place was still standing at a time where there are still dragons roaming in Earthland. This people might be more ancient than we originally thought."

Lucy and the rest of the group simply nodded as they continued their journey towards the deeper part of the ruins itself. After a few seconds of walking deeper underground, they finally reached into a large stone door that was left partially open mainly due to the work of nature in the ancient times. They walked inside, only to reveal a large room with multiple pillars supporting the very top of them. Then again, they all looked at the enormous place in awe as the place probably had stretched within a few more meters away from them, indicating its vastness.

The room was big enough to be mistaken as a place for giants. Though it was disregarded as they could see broken stone tables and other ancient artifacts scattered everywhere, seemingly done by the collapse.

"Are they any dangers around this place?" Lucy asked curiously as she suspected that something might be wrong about plundering over a ruin without expecting any booby traps or dangerous hazards that could threaten them at any moment.

"So far there hasn't been anything that could really pose a danger for us. If there is one, I'd probably assume that it maybe only a booby trap laid by the people here to secretly guard the artifact from any intruders trying to reclaim it."

"Well, I guess we're the intruders then."

"We're doing it for a good reason... Most people on ancient times simply wanted to harness its power for their own personal gain. Using its power to help one of friends is one reason enough that we should go and reclaim it."

"Makes sense..." She finished.

"The last thing we need to worry about is the collapse of the walls above us. I don't know about you guys but these pillars aren't that durable enough to keep the place intact for a couple of centuries." He continued.

The others simply looked around the pillars as they could see its damaged state after surviving for hundreds of years. There are some other pillars which were already crumbled down. It made them to think that the place will crumble soon if more pillars collapse under it, unable to support the weight from above which will pose as a problem to them if that really happened.

"We should keep moving. If what he says is true then we'll probably have no more time to get back to the surface and be crushed underneath it." Erza proposed, causing them to nod in response and began their journey once again towards the deeper parts.

The group continued to walk towards the path with Natsu lighting up the way. The deeper they get towards the ruin, the more the place holds many debris which slightly made them difficult to pass through since they were forbidden to use any magic at the moment since they were taking caution about the dangerous place.

Soon after, they finally made it to another vast hallway as they passed through the tunnel. It was quite different from the last one since it held no such pillars. Instead, it was filled with lots of stone carvings and other stone tools used to carve pictures into the wall.

"There are lots of carvings present in this place. This probably might be their ritual chamber." Lucy spoke as she pointed out her finger over to a broken altar at the center of the aisle.

"Search for clues. We need to find anything that could lead us towards the Arcanex." The blue-haired mage spoke, getting a brief nod from the rest of the group.

Erza requipped some multiple torches from her inventory and lit them up with the help of Natsu to light the room for them to explore. The all went into pairs as they began to scan some ancient carvings that could depict anything about the artifact itself. It only took them a couple of minutes to find what they're looking for as Wendy and Sara managed to find a strange carving that could somehow depict the said artifact.

"Everyone! I think this is what we're looking for..." They called out to the other parties as they all walked over to them and tried to look at it. The carving was shaped like a sphere with many intricate markings present in it. At the center was a circle-shaped emerald that sticks out from the carving. Unlike from the other carvings, it was the only carving that holds a gem at the center.

"So that's what the Arcanex looks like..."

"How can you be so sure that it was the artifact?" Natsu asked.

"We've taken a few discussions about the theories of what it looks like. So far, most scholars assume that it was a sphere since it was something related to time which led them to think about the shape of the clock itself. Look here..." He paused as he pointed out his finger over the markings written on the wall.

"...You can see that there are symbols written on the edges of the sphere, like the clock itself."

"Now that you think about it, I think it's true." They all concluded.

"Well the next question now would be, where is it located?" Erza grabbed her chin to think for a moment which made them all to ponder about the question itself.

"Honestly, this is as far as our information can help us. We don't know about its whereabouts despite all the findings we gathered about the place." Jellal sadly spoke.

"Well I guess it's gonna be hard from now on." Gray spoke as he cupped his hands and went ahead from the group.

"Let's go everyone. We need to find it fast if we don't want to worry about being crushed here." Erza suggested in a stern voice as she began to walk after the ice mage which made them to follow except for Natsu and Happy who were still left behind.

"Natsu... Everyone's going, let's go now." Happy called out to his dragonslayer who simply narrowed his eyes over the carving itself, mainly to the emerald that was placed upon it.

"Happy. I think this will be our remembrance for this mission..." Natsu beamed as he pointed out the emerald, shocking Happy.

"W-Wait Natsu. I don't think we should touch anything in here. Who knows what's going to happen if we try to remove it." The blue Exceed warned as he began to fly from his head and over to his side to prevent him from touching anything. Just like what Jellal had said, there's no telling of what traps would be sprung upon them if they tried changing anything inside these ruins and he's too young to die from it. He's still have to give Charle his best fish.

"Ah, come on Happy. It's just a gem. What's the worst that could happen if we took it from the wall?" He spoke as he reached his hand to pluck it out from the wall. Unexpectedly, the gem was pushed further inside as Natsu had touched it. It made a clicking sound, indicating it to be a switch mechanism of the ancient ruins itself.

And at that moment, Natsu's and Happy's faces went pale from the sight before them. A huge sweat formed from their heads and their eyes quickly narrowed at the disturbing sight.

"Eh?"

 **RUMBLE* RUMBLE* RUMBLE***

It was then a small tremor shook the entire room which prompted everyone to panic as they try to hold on to something sturdy to keep them composed. Small rubble began to fall from the ceiling as Natsu and others tried to keep themselves safe from them.

"Gah! The place is crumbling!" Natsu shouted out in distress as he began to run around in circles together with Happy who was also panicking at his dumb action.

"Natsu! You're getting us all killed! We're done for!" The Exceed cried as he grabbed tight of his partner's clothes as they all ran around in panic and made evasive actions.

Hearing something disturbing from the Exceed, the others looked at the fire dragonslayer with suspicious eyes.

"Natsu what did you do?" Erza asked in an intimidating manner which made him cower like the rest of his team.

"I-I.. umm. Well, the thing is... I kinda pushed the emerald then this happened."

"YOU WHAT!?" And at that moment, they were all shouting from the top of their lungs at the fire dragonslayer except for Gray and Jellal who only made a facepalm at his stupid actions.

"Way to go Flame-brain..." Gray muttered sarcastically as he could've somehow expected this to happen if the pinkette had tagged along with them. Well, shit just went off the roof and everyone is already panicking, thanks to their dumb dragonslayer.

There really isn't a day where a problem arises from Natsu and caused mayhem around them. What a pain actually.

He had to set his thoughts aside and began to act at the situation before them. His eyes widen in shock as the floor from where they entered began to collapse together with the next portion of the room. Everyone looked over to the commotion as they all widen their eyes in disbelief from the imminent collapse.

"Everyone run!" Jellal signaled as he began to run towards the next entrance together with group, following him.

"We're screwed- No, We're totally fucked!" Natsu shouted out in distress only to get a bop from the head from the scarlet knight who pulled his collar and dragged him with her.

"Just shut up and run!" She shouted as she carried the dragonslayer with her iron-clad hands.

"Is this for real?!" Sara asked in disbelief as she had her eyes nearly out of their sockets in a comical way. Everyone was also the same as they desperately tried to outrun the incoming hazard behind them.

"This place is dangerous! I told you to be careful around here!" Lucy reminded.

"Tell that to Flame-brain!" Gray shouted.

"I'm sorry!"

They all ran as fast as they could as the collapsing floor continued to follow behind them. Despite their energy, the hazard is getting closer to them to which they all panicked greatly at the imminent danger. They all looked over to the next exit which made them slightly relieved since they were almost out from the collapsing room.

Just a little more then they're finally safe.

"We're almost there guys. Just a bit-" Gray was interrupted as the floor beneath them suddenly opened up, quite different from the collapsing floor behind them. Everyone also made a huge gasp of surprise as the floor beneath them opened up, thus losing their footing and eventually began to fall from the dark abyss.

"Waaaaaaaaaaahhhh! ! ! !"

It was the only thing they could say as they all comically fell into the abyss without any support fly them back up. Erza and the others was about to use their magics to fly themselves out but the floor suddenly closed above them, therefore locking themselves in the dark and continued to fall from the ground with no light to shine their way.

.

.

.

Natsu braced himself from the incoming impact as he began to fall to the ground. After a few seconds of falling, he finally reached to the ground headfirst to which he was very annoyed since this type of landing was often in his account. Pulling head again out from the ground, Natsu made a low grunt as he finally got himself off the ground.

The place was pitch black as he somehow found himself in a small tunnel that might lead to who-knows-where. He lit up his hands in flames as he began to look around the tunnel.

"Where am I?" He asked as he began to look up to see where he had fell. Above him was also a tunnel that probably lead his fall to this place.

It was then he remembered something important.

"Lucy?! Erza! Wendy! Gray?! Sara?! Where are you?!" He began to shout at the tunnel above him but all he could hear is the resounding echo of his own voice as it traveled into the end of the tunnel. It would seemed that he was separated from the others which also made him quite worried about their safety especially his Exceed since he doesn't have a type of magic that can defend himself.

He tried using his nose but the air down here was too heavy and couldn't pick up even the faintest scent of his friends.

He guessed that staying here wouldn't solve anything. He had no choice but to move out and try to find a way to reunite with others.

Damn, what is happening?

He began to look over to the tunnel before him and decided to walk a few meters to try and find the very end of it. As he walked, he suddenly a clunking sound of rock behind to where he had also landed. He light up his flames brighter and tried to reveal the source of the sound.

His eyes widen as he recognized the figure who was laying down on the ground in pain. She made a low groan as she tried to reached over her light injuries, seemingly from her fall.

"Y-You?!" The figure then turned her head over the source of the sound emanating from her left and could only gasp in surprise as she recognized the fire dragonslayer.

"Natsu-san!"

"Meredy!"

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 **A/N: Bam! And chapter 19 is out guys! Hope ya had fun reading it. Kinda a bit slow progress on the plot of the story so I'll just try to rush things a bit to avoid any unnecessary words.**

 **Now unto the chapter, well Natsu did something stupid eh? Typical LOL. And what's more he stumbled unto Meredy. quite unusual but we'll see how they would fare from their own journey towards the deeper parts of the ruin and save Ultear. Yeah!**

 **And also, I wanted to tell you guys the reason why I unexpectedly posted this chapter early. Well, I received good news over the past few days.**

 **Fortunately, I received a four-day holiday in my school. Saturday and Sunday are included so yeah. I had a lot of time to devote myself onto this story once more. As a result I was able to finish it before those days end. Sadly, the next chapter will be posted again on the next month so you'll have to wait till then guys. I hope you're not angry .**

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 **Review Part 2: Too many reviews above so I'll put it here LOL! xD**

 **1. _Draen:_** I'm very impressed by your dedication to Mirai. Her arc will soon be up after the major arc. So I'm sorry for making you wait. Till then, have faith on her. Everyone will have their own spotlight. And Mirai will be in for a blast! Thank you for your review! :)

 **2. _rajdiangelo:_** I'm sorry for that. I also respect GrayxUltear but this is what I think of the story for her. But I'm not letting Natsu to hog her entirely. Ultear will surely appreciate Gray for what he's done. After all, he was the first one to help her get back so it's naturally for her to thank him first. Ultear will probably the last harem candidate for this story since I also feel the same way of adding too much girls to the story. Then again, I'm sorry for this decision.

 **3.** _**Jalis:**_ So sorry for making you wait. But school makes its bumpy on my part. Nevertheless, I'll try to update as much as I can. Dragon mates are just a speculation if readers wanted to be a harem end so for now, it will be just a choice :) Thank you again for your review. I'd appreciate it! :D

 **4. _treeofsakuras:_** Look forward to it. As of now, the arc is getting started.

 **5. _Gersus:_** Well, school's a problem that's why but I won't be staying like this forever.. I'll return back as soon as December starts. Till then, stick to the monthly updates. If I'm lucky just as now, it won't be long. :) I agree with you since Ultear is so much important to the arc as she was the one who probably saved the world.

And of course, that remains to be seen. Knowing him, it will take probably Igneel and other dragons to help him understand it lol. (Just joking about the Igneel part)

Anyway, thanks again for the long review and opinion. I'll definitely work hard! :D

* * *

 **Well, that's it for now guys. Got school exams coming up so I'll be returning to my studies soon.**

 **Thanks again guys and we'll see each other in the next chapter. :)**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


	20. Pink Power Duo

**A/N: Hello guys wiErD here… Sorry for the delay since I've encountered a big problem over the past month and it would seemed that my account is not receiving any server that can get me into acc. properties itself. As a result, I was forced to write into Docx in my laptop and performed back-ups on all of my stories in case of a bigger problem arises from it.**

 **So far, such thing has not happened and I hope it would stay that way.**

 **Anyway, that's my problem for not posting early together with school problems so I'll give it to you guys now. Sorry for waiting :)**

 **Disclaimer: I never own FT and its character ever! It's Hiro Hama-umm, Mashima who owns them.**

* * *

 **\- Pink Power Duo -**

Erza grunted in pain as she tried to recover herself from the fall. She failed to act fast as she was completely unprepared of what the ruins has in store for them.

Of all the other traps out there, it had to be a collapsing floor-type of trap. It was her least problem and it never really occurred to her that it would actually happen in this type of ruin. If she had been more vigilant around Natsu then she could've prevented him from pushing that button.

Speaking of Natsu, she suddenly formed a tick mark, popping out from her forehead as she remembered how their stupid dragonslayer got them in a situation like this. It ended them being separated from each other as they all fell into a dark abyss with series of tunnels, leading everyone to many unknown places.

What's more is that, it seemed impossible to track every one of them since they took quite the fall and the passage of where she had fallen seemed to be leading somewhere else. It was just quite unfortunate that she fell down alone here.

She could only hope for the safety of the others, especially to Natsu whom she was still pissed into despite her worries.

Oh, he's so dead when she finally sees him again. Cracking a few bones wouldn't hurt for a simple punishment.

Yup, that would be sufficient. Only she didn't know that the pinkette would never even approve that kind of punishment. Especially if the one doing the punishment was her.

Her strength could actually crack more bones than she originally thought without knowing it and Natsu had to be warned beforehand if he happened to learn about the impending punishment lay in store of him.

Setting her thoughts about the fire dragonslayer aside, she requipped a torch in her inventory and began to light up her surroundings. It would seemed the place was a series of tunnels, leading into some places to which they are not aware of. She looked up to the tunnel above to where she had fallen and could only think in thought about the safety of others.

 _'Are the others alright?'_ She thought out in worry.

She didn't know exactly about it and going into that direction will be only wasting her time. After all, they all fell into a series of tunnels that leads them deeper towards the ruins itself though it's still be a bad idea if they all got separated at this moment. She can take care of herself though she doesn't know about the others. She doesn't undermine them, it's just that it's her responsibility as an S-Class mage to be looking out for them. Their safety is her priority especially to her dragonslayer. She's the only one who can contain his stupidity and it seems right now she failed to keep it to herself as well.

Putting up a sigh from her mistakes, she looked over to the tunnel before her and can only narrow her eyes from it.

There's really nothing more to do than to proceed further to where this path leads to. She could guess that everyone is doing the same too. They'll have to find their way again to meet up with the others and hope that Natsu doesn't trigger another booby trap.

Yup, let's seriously hope for that.

Just as she was about to take her first step, a small grunt was heard from behind her which prompted her to turn around and flashed a torch to light up the place where the sound originated.

"Natsu?" She spoke in hopes of seeing him here with her.

"Sorry... It's just me.." The figure spoke as he began to dust his clothes from his fall from the floor earlier. Erza could only widen her eyes in surprise as she easily recognized the familiarity of the voice.

"J-Jellal?!" She stuttered.

"Good to see you Erza... It seems like we're the only ones who got into this part of tunnel..." The blue-haired mage simply scratched his head as he began to scan his surroundings however, the scarlet knight simply stood there dumbfounded at his presence.

"Hmm... I think we've gone to another section of the ruins though I don't know what this place is..."

"Yeah..."

"Anyway, I think we should keep moving.. We won't find anything if we stayed here, waiting for them." Jellal suggested.

"Y-Yeah.. I guess so." Erza agreed before handing the torch to the blue-haired mage who nodded before going past by her and lead the way towards the dark tunnel.

.

.

.

On the other section of the tunnels, Wendy and Sara simply groan in pain as they found themselves stacked against each other. With Sara falling in first and Wendy following soon after, it was quite an unpleasant situation especially for Sara who was being squished by Wendy.

"Are you alright Wendy?" The blonde-haired dragonslayer could only ask despite her position of still being on the ground.

"Y-Yes... Somehow.." The bluenette simply stuttered as she still had her eyes rolling in dizziness from the fall.

Ever since they fell into the dark abyss, Wendy and Sara were able to detect each other before only to get themselves separated from the others into the tunnels and eventually fell down comically at the ground.

Despite the darkness around them, they can still use their sense of smell to detect their presence. Unfortunately, they cannot seemed to smell the others' scents as they were separated from them as well.

"Wendy... Do you have some light? I can't really see in the dark." Sara tried to ask.

"I don't have one... Natsu-san is always our torch ever since we started our way to the ruins."

"Oh." Her voice made it seemed like she just recently realized it.

"Anyway, I think I can still see some sort of path before us... But I can't smell anything at the end of it because of the air.." The bluenette spoke.

"It's okay... We should just stick to each other and watch each other's backs if something happens." Sara suggested which only made Wendy to nod in response.

"Let's go.." The two dragonslayer simply followed the path towards the tunnel without a second thought since they have no choice but to follow it.

Finding the others would be difficult in their situation since they first need to find some light to regain their visions from the dark. They can only use their heightened senses to help them navigate throughout the tunnel. For now, they can only pray for the safety of the others as they were all doing the same to reunite with each other once again.

.

.

.

"Well, isn't it kinda great? Being squished by your mounds is actually refreshing ever since with our magnificent fall from the floor above." Gray simply mused as he found himself being squashed by Lucy who was on top of him.

"Instead of saying something, YOU SHOULD JUST GET OF THE WAY PERVERT! ! !" An utterly pissed off Lucy simply smacked the poor ice mage with a furious backhand that sent him near a wall, sticking his head in first from the force of the attack.

The celestial spirit mage simply covered her breasts as she looked over to the ice mage with a hostile look. Well, they did fall in this place though in a much more embarrassing position than the two dragonslayers.

"Wow, even your voice can be heard here Lucy... Are you a witch or something?" A rather familiar voice resounded infront of them as Lucy looked over the source, only to find Happy and Charle, holding some sort of a glowing stone for their source of light.

"You two were here?"

"Yes... Ever since you two fell on top of each other, we decided to leave you like that for awhile while we search for something to light our way through the tunnel." Happy proudly spoke of his good actions which only gave the celestial mage the tick mark popping inside her head.

And not before long, the blue Exceed's cheeks were already grabbed by a seething blonde mage who was stretching it apart, threatening to rip them off.

"Ow ow ow! My cheeks!"

"Instead of leaving us like that, YOU COULD'VE PUSHED US APART! ! !"

"We can't since it was so dark..."

"And how did you know that we're in that some sort of position?" Lucy demanded only to get Happy unable to form up any kind of rebuttal from her question. As a result, he could only give a stuttered look towards the celestial mage.

"W-Well, I was eating a fish that time so yeah.."

What came after that was a yell of pain from the poor Exceed.

..

..

After a few minutes of settling down, Lucy and the others were simply sitting, facing each other with the glowing stone on the center. Gray was trying to stretch his neck from the fierce blow from the blonde mage while Happy was touching his cheeks gingerly, in hopes of seeing that his cheeks is till the same after that extreme pulling from the same mage. Charle was sighing in depression from her group as she couldn't do anything about their bickering.

Something bad is gonna happen if they formed a group like this.

"I can't believe we're separated. Just what did Natsu do this time?" Lucy asked, seemingly displeased at the current situation as she pressed the question unto the blue Exceed.

"He just said about take something as a souvenir for this trip so he grabbed the gem at the wall... We never really though it was a button though." Happy meekly spoke.

"Well, we already warned you guys not to touch anything." Gray followed.

"Sorry... " Happy could only apologize in behalf of his partner. If Natsu was here, it would've been a bloodbath between him and Gray about arguing about something senseless.

Lucy simply huffed as she couldn't really blame anyone right now. Not to Happy at least, he was probably forced by the pinkette to do the same. Accusing and lecturing them isn't really an important task right now.

"Anyway, what should we do about our situation?" Lucy began to stand up as she began to look up to the tunnel above where they have landed.

"I think we should move... While you two are sleeping on top of each other, Happy and I were able to venture to some places, leading that tunnel." Charle pointed over to the path before them as Gray began to stand and look tensely at the pointed direction.

"I would've appreciated it if you said something discreet about the sleeping thing." Lucy cried in her eyes as she could never forget her shame earlier. Though the three simply ignored her pleas and simply proceeded to discuss more about the situation.

"I think we should go... Worrying about the others without doing anything will never get us anywhere.. If we know our friends too well then they would've been starting their own separate travels as well to meet up with us on the other end." Gray proposed which made the three nod in response.

He grabbed the glowing stone from the ground and began to lead the way with the three following him afterwards.

"We need to be careful around here. I think Jellal and Meredy hardly knew of this place. We should prepare ourselves if we encounter some bad things along the way."

"Yeah!/Yes!" Came the unified replies from his group.

"Would it be a good idea if I just summon Loke right?"

.

.

.

Back at the wandering duo, Natsu uses his flames to light up the way as he and Meredy began to wander blindly to the tunnel without knowing of the dangers that might be ahead of them. They didn't have much of a choice since they must proceed further in order to reassess their current surroundings and hopefully, track the others with their magic and reunite with them.

Meredy was simply tugging the dragonslayer's clothes with one hand as she proceeded together with him towards the deeper parts of the ruin. The stillness and the silence of the place was unpleasant for her as the sounds of their footsteps was the only thing she could hear in their continuing journey. The old rocks and small chunks of debris which were chipped off from the walls was the only thing they could see as they proceeded further. Markings and different kinds of drawings were seen in some walls that were difficult to analyse since they know little about the place.

"Are you okay back there?" Natsu asked his fellow pink-haired companion as he noticed her shivering in her body.

"N-Nothing... Just proceed I'll be okay on my own Natsu-san.." Meredy stuttered as she pushed out his concerns from her and tried to make a composed look though it was done poorly as her feet became wobbly from the dark places ahead of her.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark are you?" He finally realized.

"N-No I'm not... I'm just feeling light-headed about this place. It gives me the creeps..." She reasoned.

"Isn't that the same as being afraid in the dark?" Natsu asked, getting the pink-haired girl to shoot a light glare from her which slightly gave him the chills.

"I told you I'm not..." She gave a sigh before looking back at the dragonslayer.

"If you didn't push that button then we wouldn't be in this place."

"Well, sorry... I didn't mean it.."

Again, she made another sigh as she let go of her hold on his clothes since they already stopped moving.

"Well, it already happened so there's no need to pry anymore on that. What matters is that we proceed further and meet up with the others in order to get the artifact as soon as possible." She explained.

"I see... Well then, we should get going..." He suggested before resuming again only to stop briefly in his tracks as he saw her not moving from her position.

"Is something wrong?" Natsu asked the pink-haired mage who was only giving some sight tremble on her feet which made him slightly worried.

"N-Nothing... I just need some time to get my feet working... " She made a dry laugh as she began to move again.

Just as she was about to move, her feet suddenly wobbled as if her strength instantly disappeared from it which resulted her to land on the ground hard, making a grunted sound as Natsu went over to her in a fast pace.

"What's wrong?" He asked worriedly as he saw her gritting her teeth in frustration as she was seemingly in pain.

"I-I'm fine... I can still go.." She managed to speak but it didn't convince the fire dragonslayer completely as he grabbed her carefully in her back and lifted her upper body towards him for support.

"No way you're not fine... Are you sick?" He asked worriedly before sniffing something unpleasant from his nose. It was smell all too familiar and all too grave for him to experience. The smell of blood.

His eyes widen in shock and disbelief as he instantly recognized the scent and hurriedly scanned her body for any severe injuries. It didn't take him long to fins it as he finally looked over to her knees and saw a deep gash from it. Blood was gushing out slowly from it which was difficult from him to recognize earlier. He looked again to Meredy as he saw her face gritting in pain as she felt her legs somehow being torn apart from the pain she's having.

Natsu could only grit his teeth in frustration as he can't think up a plan to ease her pain and could only watch helplessly.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" He asked as he began to help her lean into a nearby wall to rest her body there while grabbing something his pockets for anything that can close the bleeding. She didn't reply as she simply focused on dealing with her pain. It only took a couple of seconds for her to reply back due to the pain she was having.

"I-I'm sorry... I though we could make it on the other side of the tunnel if we proceed without checking anyone's injuries." She winced in pain.

"And look where it got us... You're in pain and you didn't tell me anything about it. If you told me sooner then I would've treated it somehow." Natsu scolded as he can't seemed find anything before returning his attention back at the pink-haired girl.

"I wanted to f-find it fast... To get Ultear back.." She could only grimace which made Natsu extremely worried.

An idea soon popped into his head as he began to tear some part of his clothes and began to wrap them softly on the wound. Meredy tried to hold off the pain as Natsu continued to wrap it around to close the wound for now. She was quite relieved as the pain slightly went down and her bleeding finally stopped though it was only temporary. They still need to fins Wendy or Sara in order to get her wound healed up.

Wiping off a bead of sweat from his head, Natsu breathed a sigh of relief as he simply rested on the opposite of the wall with a make-shift fireplace laid between them.

"T-Thank you..." Meredy managed to speak. The pinkette simply put up a small grin in his face before breathing another sigh as he gazed over to the flickering fireplace.

The two simply sat there, staring at the fire as it lights up the darkness around them and also gave a warm feeling to their bodies. They stayed like that for a few minutes as both mages simply waited, looking at the fire with wonder without facing each other's gazes.

"Is Ultear a very precious person to you?" And all of a sudden, Natsu spoke out of the blue, cutting the silence between them and shocking the pink-haired girl in the process before calming down afterwards as memories of her together with the time mage suddenly resurfaced almost instantly upon mentioning her name.

"Yes... Ultear is like a family to me.."

"What is she like? I mean, is she scary or some sort?" He asked.

"I don't know what you mean but she can be quite scary at some times..." She giggled which makes Natsu cringed a bit about that information towards the time mage though it disappeared as Meredy continued more talking about her to him.

"...But you know, she really values everyone precious to her like they are her family. There are some bad things that she wanted to forget because she felt guilty about it but she knew that her past cannot be erased just like that... That's why she created Crime Sorciere."

"Bad things?" His head tilted in confusion. Meredy could only hug her knees as she clenched it tighter after remembering something shocking from her 12 years ago.

"Yeah... But despite all of that, I still accepted her because she looked after me like a mother..." She paused.

"... She did everything for my sake. Took me in and raised me like a family until the very end. She was always there for me."

"Mother huh? Natsu trailed off in thought as he began to gaze towards the fire between them.

No wonder why she wanted her back. He could always see the truth in her eyes. The memories of her together with Ultear are very precious to her. Although they've been running from the Council and been taking out dark guilds, there are times where both of them experience some warmth with each other like a family and it made Natsu quite amazed on how she was able to live like this.

It also made him wonder of how she, Ultear and Jellal are able to handle themselves in this cruel world. For once, he wanted the three of them to be free from the the clutches of the Council.

"It's quite funny you know..." Meredy suddenly chuckled, getting the dragonslayer's attention to her almost instantly.

"What is?" The pinkette simply tilted his head in confusion.

"I've never been so calm talking to any boy except Jellal..."

"I'm not a boy though..." He slightly frowned.

"Well it's all the same.." She giggled in a seemingly cute way which slightly surprised the dragonslayer.

"Why would you say that? Are there other male members in your guild?" Meredy could only shook her head disapprovingly.

"That's just one reason of it. The other... Well, let's just say Ultear doesn't like me hanging around with boys since she's my foster mother."

"What's so bad about hanging around with boys... You can learn a thing or two from them like fighting and push-ups or sorts of like that." Natsu obliviously reasoned which only made her giggle more.

"You're really stupid Natsu-san..."

"Yeah, I get that quite a lot from my friends.." He nonchalantly replied.

"I'm surprised that you tolerate them... Normally, you would be swinging your magic at Gray-san when you have the chance." She spoke.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing..." She ended their conversation.

Silence soon followed as the two began to look away from each other, seemingly unable to form anything that can start their conversation again. Only the sound of burning twigs from the fire was heard in the tunnel as the two simply sat across each other, bathing in its warmth. Meredy however, was beginning feeling cold despite the fire in front of her. It wasn't enough to give her some heat and her body was starting shiver because of it. She stole a glance towards the dragonslayer who was casually sitting comfortably despite the coldness of the place.

She just briefly forgot that he was a fire mage. Something like this isn't a problem to him.

She folded her knees as she gripped unto it tightly to keep her warm while trying to be careful around her wound since she was still receiving some pains from it just by moving her body. She shook her head as she faces down to the ground to prevent Natsu from noticing her face from the cold. She doesn't need to seek help from him. Ultear had raise her to look after her own so she will be able to handle it.

As she was about to try herself from enduring the cold. She felt something warm just at her neck as if something was being wrapped around it. She slowly lifted her face and could only widen her eyes in surprise as she saw Natsu right infront of her, wrapping his special scarf unto her neck.

"H-Hey! I-Isn't this your precious scarf?" Meredy asked, completely confused at his actions.

"Yeah..." He simply replied before taking a step back and looked at her briefly before sitting back to his previous seat.

"Don't worry... I'll lend it to you for the time being since you were freezing cold in this place." He flashed a grin in his face towards her which causes her to blush.

"I can take care of myself. A little cold won't kill me..." She tried to reason.

"But you're desperately trying to hold it... Come on, it's alright.. I'm not mad at the slightest for lending anyone with my scarf." He smiled before resting his back against the wall and began to think.

Meredy was still completely dumbfounded at his words as she couldn't even speak for herself.

"B-But why me?" Came the low and solemn reply.

"Well, it's because you're my friend. I can't just let you shiver down from the cold now can I? No matter, how you look at it, you're one of my precious friends and I can't just stand here doing nothing about it." He spoke sheepishly as he simply scratched his head.

"Natsu-san... ... ..."

"Well, uh.. if you're not comfortable, I could just remove it and give you some bigger fire beside you to warm yourself if you want." He frantically spoke as he stood up and went towards her.

Meredy could only smile inwardly as she simply tugged his scarf and motioned smoothly around her neck.

"Idiot... (Baka...)" She whispered silently.

"Hmm?"

"Well then, will you seat beside me?"

"Huh?"

"Will... you... seat beside me..." Her statement seems to trail off with each word as Natsu understands it completely after a moment. He hesitated for a brief moment before finally deciding to sit down beside the pink-haired girl at her left and looked at her.

"Is this okay?" He asked. Meredy didn't answer as she simply rested her head onto his shoulders and closed her eyes in content. The warmth of his body suddenly transferred into her own and replaced the cold with a soothing warmth that gave her some peace as she rested beside him.

Natsu was slightly shocked at first but soon softened as he simply let her rest on his shoulders for the time being.

"So warm..." She muttered.

"If you don't want it, I could lessen it for you.." Meredy simply shook her head sideways.

"Mmm... This is fine.. Thank you Natsu-san.."

"Okay..."

The two stayed like that for a few minutes as the Meredy continued to rest peacefully from the fire dragonslayer's warmth. The scarf was also doing its magic as her body slowly returned to normal and felt warm around it. She couldn't explain why but for some reason, his scarf was gently warpping her into some kind of a warm embrace as she dug her face further into it.

The smell of him entered her nose as she begins to blush from it. After all, it was her first time sitting beside with a male other than Jellal. Without Ultear having to watch her almost everyday, she was able to experience it for the first time.

It felt almost soothing and good for her as she continues to rest unto him.

Unknowingly, her heart was starting beat fast as she felt flustered around him.

Eventually, the two separated from each other as they rested for quite some time now.

"Isn't it about time we continue our journey?" Natsu asked as he stood up.

"Y-Yes.. I think so too."

"Are you sure that you're okay to go?" He asked worriedly before looking over to her wound.

"It's okay now. The bleeding has stopped. I think I can move around on my own again. Thank you." Meredy simply stood up afterwards before trying to unwrap the scarf to return it back to him.

"Keep it for now..." Natsu suddenly spoke upon seeing her trying to return his scarf to him.

"Eh?"

"You can return it to me after we find that artifact.." He smiled before grabbing her hand and started their path towards the tunnel once again. Meredy was only left speechless as she gazed over to her hand which was being held by Natsu as they continue to straddle their way towards the tunnel. A blush soon crept its way to her face as she simply looked at his back and wondered once again. Even though, they still don't know much about each other, he always looks after her well-being and never hesitated to reach out a helping hand.

No wonder why Jellal always talks about this man. The man he always puts his whole faith into.

"Natsu?" Meredy began to speak.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you..."

"Don't mention it... You can thank me again after we save Ultear alright?"

"Yes..." She smiled once more before letting herself being dragged by him.

"No matter what happens, we'll do everything to get Ultear back... Just leave it to me, Meredy!" He cheerily replied which only made her smile further.

"Mmm!" She can only nod.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Erza and Jellal simply continued to follow the tunnel before them as the torch light their way across the tunnel. Like all the others, they encountered series of wall carvings and paintings from the ancient ruin as they pass through. The two didn't utter a single word or even form a single conversation.

Jellal simply focused his attention towards the goal with Erza following him from behind, seemingly uncomfortable in some way.

"What's wrong Erza?" The blue-haired mage suddenly stopped and turned around the scarlet knight with a hint of worry in his eyes.

"I-It's nothing... We should proceed further." Erza shrugged off the question as she simply gave an reassuring smile, which caused him to nod in response before returning to his previous venture.

They walked again for a few more meters and eventually stopped as they saw a fallen debris, blocking their way.

"It looks like our first obstacle is already here..." Jellal spoke.

"It shouldn't be a problem.." Erza began to glow in her respective magic color as she brought a large cleaver in her hand and placed it right beside her.

"If it means reuniting with the others, we'll have to blast through every now and then..." She finished as she began to lift her cleaver above her, seemingly ready to smash the debris into small pieces.

"Wait!" Jellal suddenly lifted his arm to stop the redhead.

"What's the problem?"

"Here.." Jellal soon pointed his finger over a part section of the debris and simply used some of his magic power to disintegrate the part of it. After a few seconds of waiting something to happen, the debris before suddenly collapsed under, leaving only a huge hole that leads further below to the ruins. Erza could only gape in surprise as another part of the ruin was discovered once again.

The stairs leading downward was partially broken as some section were simply destroyed or deformed from the collapse of the ruin.

"We should be careful... I don't know what place this is but it certainly regards some dangers ahead." Jellal warned with Erza nodding afterwards and simply requipped her cleaver back and began to take the stairs carefully as they begin their descent towards the dark abyss.

The structure of the stairs were made in a circular fashion as the two continued their path towards the bottom. The light of the torch was the only thing that shines everything in the darkened place. Silence was pretty common in these parts as the sound of echoing footsteps was only heard by the two as they continued their way down.

"It's been awhile since we talked and walked alongside each other Erza..." Jellal suddenly spoke without looking back at her.

"Y-Yeah.. It's been awhile now." She muttered.

"We haven't spoke much yet over these past years. How're you doing?"

"I'm fine... don't mind me. I can take care of myself." She replied as she tried to regain some of her composure towards him.

"I see... then I'm glad to hear that..." He turned around and forced a light smile towards her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing... We should carry on.."

After that, they once again fell into a deep and silent atmosphere. Neither of the two spoke at each other as Erza felt rather awkward to talk about something to him right now. However, she couldn't take all this any longer as she decided to break the silence.

"So how's you're relationship with your fiancee?" She asked inappropriately, unaware from the fact that it was a lie from him five years back.

Jellal however, simply widen his eyes in surprise upon being brought up by a strange question to him. He slowly turned around to face her with a halfhearted look on his face.

"W-Well, it's going well and you know..." He scratched his head.

"I see, then how about you?"

"What about me?" He asked as if he wasn't really aware about the next question.

"I mean, about how you're doing over the past few years." She muttered once again, not attempting to raise her voice at him at any moment.

"Well, there's nothing much to say about me since we're just seeping things up for the sake of the greater good."

"I see... I understand.." She suddenly ended the conversation.

"Why are you asking?"

"J-Just curious about how things have gone in your way... I can't just ignore you over these past few years. You're one of my friends." The scarlet knight reasoned which slightly made the blue-haired mage to smile a bit.

"I see you haven't changed a bit Erza.." He solemnly spoke as he stopped in his tracks to look at the redhead once again.

"W-What are you saying that all of a sudden?" She could only stutter.

"Nothing in particular... Just trying to see of how much you've been doing over these past few years."

"Are you my parent or something?" Erza huffed which only made the blue-haired mage to chuckle lightly.

"What's that suppose to mean? I'm just visiting an old friend.."

Erza could only sigh at the thought as she simply began to walk past by him and requipped her own torch in her hand.

"Anyway, shouldn't we get moving? I think the others are probably waiting for us as well on the other end." She continued, causing him to realize it and nod in response.

"Sure..." He answered briefly before following her.

Again, the two went into a deep silence as both neither spoke to each other and simply pressed on their journey towards the bottom. After a few minutes of walking they finally reached the bottom and managed to find a series of torn-down walls and rubble in the area. The two slowly walked past them as they gazed in wonder upon these walls. There are lots of carvings and stone markings present in every wall just as the same as the torn-down once.

"There's a lot of knowledge and history present among these walls. Too bad we can't save them." Erza frowned as she picked a small chip of stone from the ground and scanned its writings.

"Centuries of lying underground probably resulted this much damage... But it's quite strange." Jellal pondered in thought.

"What's strange?"

"Take a look on one of those markings and look." He pointed over to the remaining intact walls around them. The markings were harboring the same pattern like markings in every wall they encountered. Among those markings was a sphere-like drawing carved near the center. The same thing that they saw back at the upper part of the ruin.

Erza narrowed her eyes as she recognized them.

"The Arcanex Reversinum." She concluded.

"That's right. It seems that the people here are really dedicated to the artifact itself. Their history and culture all pertains to the same artifact. It makes me to think of how much important the Arcanex is."

"You said about something that can turn back time.. It's no wonder why the people wanted to conceal the place."

"Not necessarily to turn back time itself but rather the time of the person." Jellal clarified.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You see the Arcanex only works on turning back the time of the person which we could say the aging process of one person. Unlike the Eclipse Gate, the Arcanex only deals a small part of time-reversing on one person in order to work its purpose."

"And what does it do for the sake of saving Ultear?" She asked.

"You've come this far so I think there's no need in hiding it any further..." He paused before taking a deep breath for their purpose of travelling through here.

"... Ultear's taboo was a very powerful type of magic taboo. It's called the Last Ages. By calling forth the magic, she deliberately used all her magic power and her body to distort the flow of time back at the Grand Magic Games. I think by now, you know what I mean when we fought those humanoid dragons. We all noticed a certain event that would sure come to pass right before eyes."

"You mean like a premonition?"

"Exactly.. But those premonitions were also done by Ultear as she was able to turn back time which is an impossible feat to do so. It was also that time where we are able to perform our own counterattack against the dragons."

"What happened?"

"But as it was suppose to turn back time. Ultear probably assumed that the taboo would eventually send us back further from the time before the dragons came out from the gate to warn us... But it failed." He frowned as he looked sideways.

"What do you mean it failed?"

"The spell was able to work but not in the way she would want it to be... Instead of turning back time back at the start of the games, she only managed to turn it back only for a minute. That's the reason why we're aren't able to predict much of the upcoming events at that time since she probably failed performing it."

Erza could only widen her eyes in disbelief and horror as she couldn't imagine of what Ultear had probably gone through using that magic taboo. Not only she did use her power but her own body as well to perform that forbidden spell.

"T-Then Ultear?"

"It took us a couple of months to find where she is but we didn't know that it actually her when we realized it. The spell probably accelerated her aging process. Since her magic output wasn't enough, she used too much on her body which required lots of energy and power in order to perform it. As a result, her body underwent drastic changes..." He paused.

"...Due to the immense strain on her body, the effects spread fast and took much of her life force to which she used to compensate for the spell and grew very old in just a short time. We couldn't do anything about it as we were left completely shocked at her transformation. We wanted to help but we simply can't... In the end, we couldn't show ourselves to her and eventually moved on and tried to find some way to bring her back..." He finished.

 _'Ultear... ... Just how much you've been willing to sacrifice yourself to save everyone.'_ Erza could only worry inside her thoughts. Although they haven't known much about each other, she could finally see how she was very protective to her comrades but she never expected her to have gone this far.

Although, she was the main reason for Jellal's sins, it doesn't mean that she must do something that might endanger her life just to clear her past crimes and leave them behind.

"We must go... We need to find the artifact as soon as we can." Jellal soon turned with Erza following him from behind.

The scarlet knight could only wonder of how much Jellal's changed over the past years. At last, he finally experiencing the feeling of saving someone very dear to him. She could only smile in content at his change.

"You're the one who's changed." Erza whispered which is unrecognized by the blue-haired mage himself as they continued further towards the deeper ruins.

But just about they were moving towards the leading tunnel before them, Erza suddenly noticed a magic circle, appearing underneath them which caused her to requipped almost instantly and forcefully pushed Jellal away from her and took the impending explosion underneath her.

 **BOOM***

The sound of the explosion roared and echoed throughout the tunnel as dust and rubble are blown away from the section where the scarlet knight once stood.

"Erza!" Jellal shouted in panic as he saw her engulfed in the explosion. He waited as the dust settled down once again only to smile in relief as he saw Erza in her Adamantine armor which completely protected her from the blast.

"Thank goodness you're alright."

"Don't let down your guard Jellal... We got company. Show yourselves!" Erza suddenly requipped into her usual clothing with a sword in hand and focused over to the darkened tunnels before them.

"Oh, what do we have here? A woman and a man alone in the dark... It seems the others are in luck I guess." A mischievous voice resounded in front of them which prompted the two mages to take up their own stances and prepared for the impending danger ahead of them.

"Who are you?!" Erza demanded.

"There's no need to know one's name when their opponents are gonna end up dead anyway..." The voice mocked which slightly irritated the two.

"It's underestimating us." Jellal frowned.

"IT?! What a rude guy you are..." As soon as he said that, the two instinctively dodged an incoming beam from the tunnel by leaping backwards to avoid it.

"Looks like I'm gonna give that mouth of yours some lessons on how to address me properly." A figure soon appeared from the tunnel and eventually revealed himself to them.

It was guy dressing in some sort of leather armor with multiple stripes of black present in his torso. His black trousers was also shaded in complete black and was also adorned with spikes just behind his knees. His hair was black with spiky ends on the back of his head, very much like Natsu but messier and longer. His eyes were completely crimson as it reflected back at the darkness which could somehow depicted him of a monster just from that feature.

"It seems like you're the ones who first set foot here in the ruins before us... Too bad we can't let you have the Arcanex since our master needs it himself." The figure spoke.

"What do you mean? And who's master you're referring about?" Erza asked.

"That's impossible. I've set up a barrier on the outside to conceal the place." Jellal spoke in disbelief.

"Well that's true but we managed to locate you all before you set up that barrier. Pretty easy if you ask me." The figure smirked before pointing his open hand at the two.

Soon afterwards, beams of light suddenly shot out from his palms and went straight towards the two in blinding speeds which caused Erza to use er Flight armor and Jellal to use his Meteor to evade the attack.

"W-What the hell is that?" Jellal asked as he regain from the sides, trying to analyze the type of magic their opponent is using.

"It looks like some sort of Light magic." Erza concluded which only made the figure to smirk underneath his clothes.

"Well then, shall we have some fun, Fairy Tail mages?"

.

.

.

Back at Natsu and Meredy, the two have been running almost effortless towards the tunnel with no clue of where it leads them though the latter don't seemed to mind. She can't really break the happy atmosphere between them since she was starting to like it. Though eventually, she had to tell him sooner about the place they ere going since she might get worried that they might get lost further in side the ruins.

"Umm, Natsu-san... Are you sure about the path you're going?" She asked cheerfully without any hint of worry in her eyes. Furthermore, she look like she was trying to tease the pinkette since she somehow know his poor skills in telling directions.

"Y-Yeah, of course.. It's right this way.. I-I'm a dragonslayer.. I can s-smell something fishy from far away.. haha, yeah." He made a dry laugh at the last part which only made her giggle under her breath.

 _'Yup, he doesn't really know now.'_

As he said that, they soon came into a room with two tunnels leading into something else.

Well this is the part where they must take one route than the other. They gotta be really careful in choosing the right path in order to meet up to the others. However, Meredy seemed to be still enjoying teasing the dragonslayer.

"Well, Natsu-san.. Will you tell me which way is the right way?"

The pinkette however, was simply sweating as he looked back and forth towards each direction with a panicked look.

"I.. uh.. well, I think this is the way- no, I mean, this way.. Wait! Ahh! I can't smell enough at the other end of it." Natsu felt ridiculous in front of her. Meredy could only giggle in delight as she found him quite cute when panicked.

"Okay... Let me help, Natsu-san." Meredy offered as she went past by him and eventually glowed forth her magic color before touching the ground with her hands and crouched in front of him before closing her eyes.

And in just a moment, Meredy began to use more of her magic as rocks and rubble around her slowly float due to the intensity of it. Natsu could only gape in surprise and amazement as he simply observed her doing her magic from behind.

"So cool.. But what are doing exactly?" He asked curiously.

"I'm channeling my energy to my hands to detect anything suspicious from those tunnels. It will help us if there's anything dangerous ahead of us.."

As soon as she said that, she began to slowly open her eyes as she finished gathering her own magic.

"Please, wait for a moment, Natsu-san... It will be over in a minute."

 **"Maguilty Sense: Inorganic Link!"** She briefly shouted as her hands created a pair of magic circles beneath it before sending out some ethereal wavelengths through the ground like some sort of a vibration or resonance.

After a few minutes, Meredy soon returned back to herself and stood up from her current position.

"Well, did you find anything?" He asked hopefully.

"As expected, these aren't ordinary walls." She slightly frowned as she began to touch the dusted walls around them and scanned them.

"What do you mean?"

"It seems that the ruins must have some sort of nullifying substance that prevents me from channeling my energy further through them. I can't also detect anything since the walls around us were pretty much the same despite being destroyed over the past centuries."

"Which means?" He asked as he did not get any of what she meant.

"It means, I can't use my magic here to track the location of others because of these walls dummy." She lightly pinched his cheek.

"What if I could just break them... You know, use my magic to destroy them so that we can use your magic to track everyone." He propose which made the pink-haired girl to ponder for a moment.

"Well, it may be a good idea but remember when you pushed button..." She paused before looking at him with light glare.

"Oh yeah, about that..."

"The structure around these walls are unknown. I don't know what will happen if you'd try breaking one of them down. Plus, if you destroy one section, my magic can only go through that part only."

Natsu could only sigh in defeat as he began to scratch his head in irritation about their current position.

"Why does it have to be so hard?" He groaned.

"Well, I'd guess we could try your idea. So long as you're prepared for any traps and falling debris then I guess we should be fine." She smiled, looking at the fire dragonslayer.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you when that happens." He grinned which caused her to lose her guard and blush at his words.

"O-Okay... So are you serious about this?"

"You'll never know until you try right?" He clenched his fist hard while wearing a confident smirk written on his face.

He walked over to the side of the wall and began to call forth his magic as flames surrounded his arm and began to shine bright. Meredy simply waited for him to do it ass she took a step back, bracing herself from the impending impact.

"That would not be necessary..." But just as he was about to punch the wall with his fist, a unknown voice suddenly boomed over the tunnel which caught the attention of the two immediately went into their battle stance, trying to find the source of it.

"Who's there?" Meredy demanded as she began to side herself beside Natsu who also did the same as he narrowed his eyes over the two dark tunnels before them.

After just a moment, a figure soon appeared over to them on the left side of the tunnel which prompted them to face towards it and prepared themselves. Their eyes soon widen in shock as they finally saw the figure's appearances. He wears a black and tattered cloak with its hood, concealing his face. Two staves are seen strapped behind his back but they soon focused underneath him.

There was no feet present below him as if he was suspended in mid-air.

Natsu and Meredy simply raised up their guard against him.

"Everything must be done for the sake of our Master's plans. And you people are in the way of it." The figure spoke before pulling out one staff and began to glow in red color as he simply pointed it towards the two.

"Master? Who's master?" Natsu demanded but was ignored as the figure continued his actions.

And in just a moment, huge flames suddenly erupted from the staff and began its way towards the two. Natsu simply stood there with Meredy behind him as she took refuge from the impending heated attack.

The flames collided with the two in just a moment, engulfing them wholly as the flames blasted through the tunnel, burning everything as it goes.

But just as the figure was assuming the two were incinerated he looked cautiously towards the sea of flames, hearing some sort of a slurping sound coming out from it.

The cloaked figure slightly twitched as the flames began to disappear as it spiraled towards the fire dragonslayer's mouth, negating the effects of the flames and its intensity.

"Thanks for the meal.. I'm all fired up!" Natsu simply wiped off his mouth before clasping his hands on fire and prepared for combat with Meredy joining him afterwards.

"I see... so that's your power Salamander.." The figure mused without raising much of his voice before pulling out his other staff from his back before pointing both of them just towards them.

"No matter, how powerful you are, our Master's plan must never be interrupted in finding the Arcanex."

"So you're after the artifact huh? What do you plan on using it?" Meredy concluded.

"Master's plans must not be hindered... The two of you will be annihilated by me."

 **"Dark Magic Release: Hell's Door..."** The figure chanted as a dark magical circle appeared underneath the figure before creating a powerful tremor that shook the very tunnel as Natsu and Meredy simply held on to each other as the enemy was seemingly trying to collapse the place around them. The staves soon dissolved and began to merge, forming into some kind of intricate scythe as his new weapon.

"Natsu!" Meredy called out in distress as she saw the floor began to crumble.

"That bastard..." The pinkette hissed in anger as he locked his eyes on him who was simply standing there unmoving from his current position as the floor began to collapse under them.

Looking back at the Crime Sorciere mage, Natsu instantly grabbed her waist in his left hand before readying to propel themselves out.

"Hold on Meredy... We're busting outta here."

 **"Fire Dragon's Claw!"** Shouting forth his spell, Natsu's feet suddenly bursts into flames that sent them both propelling towards the figure.

"Ready Meredy?" Natsu signalled before slightly dropping off the pink-haired girl from his hold.

"Yes, Natsu-san!"

Soon afterwards, Natsu finally let go of the girl who in turn spun around to regain her footing, facing the cloaked figure as they both neared him. Glowing her body into her own respective magic color, Meredy gathered her magical power near her hands as it glowed in light pink aura.

 **"Maguilty Five Swords of Light!"** She shouted briefly as five large teal Magic blades appeared behind her and spiraled continuously before firing them towards the figure in blinding speeds.

But before the blades made contact to his body, the figure's body simply distorted away and disappeared completely, causing the blades to miss their mark and hit towards a section of the ruins that resulted a powerful shockwave due to the speed of the blades.

"Where is he?" Natsu asked as he tried to track his scent but to no avail. Even Meredy was trying to locate his position using her own magic as well but it seemed his presence simply vanished.

"Stay on your guard Natsu-san... It seems this guy is quite powerful to be able to mask his presence from us." She warned.

"I know that... " Natsu simply flared his flames brighter as he tried to light up much of the place. The collapsing tunnel somehow gave them some new places to hold into since it collapsed completely, revealing many rooms and places which the two soon took refuge as they tried to find the enemy.

Then after a moment, a circular distortion soon appeared behind Natsu where the figure soon appeared, carrying the giant scythe ready to cut him down. Meredy noticed this and tried to call out to warn the dragonslayer but it was too late.

"Natsu-san! Watch out!"

 **CLANG***

The sound of steel clashing followed as Meredy was left astounded at the sight before her. There stood Natsu who skillfully grabbed the scythe with his own canine teeth that stopped the surprised attack from behind. The figure was simply caught off guard as he didn't expect the dragonslayer to really catch his weapon with his own bare teeth.

"Yor noth ghettinfg awway.. Thisf thime.." He spoke confidently despite his incoherent statement.

The figure tried to break off his weapon from the pinkette but the dragonslayer still kept on biting on it and not letting him go. Meredy soon sweatdropped as the scene dragged on during the battle.

"Are you a hound or something?" She deadpanned, feeling a bead of sweat forming up from the side of her head while looking at the fire dragonslayer.

 **"Fire Dragon's Meteor Fist!"** Locking his right fist while holding onto his opponent's weapon, Natsu bursts large amounts of flames unto his fist before delivering it towards the figure's midsection that caused him to fly upwards that soon crashed in the ceiling due to the intensity of the blow. Another tremor was created that was soon noticed by the other members as the fight between two mages continued.

Leaping down back to the ground where her pink-haired companion was, Natsu simply landed beside her waiting as the debris began to fall down to the ground from where the figure had crashed into.

"That was rather easy.." Natsu clenched his fists in victory.

"Destroying a large part of the ruin is just you overdoing things.." Meredy giggled despite the situation they're in.

As the two conversed, the destroyed place soon emitted a series of shockwaves that prompted them to return back to their own battle stances as the figure soon floated above them, seemingly left unscathed except for its burned cloak that was created from Natsu's attack however, his face was still covered by its hood as he began to motion his scythe in a circular fashion.

"Master was right about you... You're a threat to his plans Salamander... I will kill you right now." He finished before releasing a torrent of wind from his spinning weapon that headed straight towards the two in a fast pace.

"Like that will kill me.." Natsu smirked before moving his arms wide as flames began to form around him and Meredy which seemingly protected the latter as it didn't show any signs of extreme heat from her.

 **"Fire Dragon's Raging Strike!"** Shaping the flames into a face of a dragon, Natsu directed his fists closely before him before locking them altogether as the flame dragon simply opened its jaws wide before closing in again, negating the wind strike as it was consumed by the flames easily which shocked both Meredy and the figure.

This wasn't the same display of power Meredy had seen from him. It never occurred to her that he was able to become this strong over the past years. Seeing him, smiling confidently against the enemy, it would seemed like Natsu wasn't even taking it seriously.

 _'Just how much you've become that strong Natsu?'_ She could only think inside her thought as Natsu continued to overpower the figure who was struggling to keep up from his intense attacks.

Her thought was soon interrupted as she heard Natsu began to call her name.

"Meredy... We'll deal this in one blow... Let's go." He suggested as Meredy came beside him, readying her own spell as she looked narrowly at the figure.

"You're not getting away..." The figure blankly spoke despite his current situation.

"Here I go!" Natsu shouted before lightning sparks circled together with his flames that enveloped his own body completely.

"Lightning Flame Dragon Mode!" He shouted before locking his lightning-enhanced flame fists towards the figure.

Meredy soon followed before him before glowing herself in pink aura as a large magical blade appeared in her hands.

 **"Maguilty Destruction Sword!"** She shouted in frustration as she made a nose dive with the blade in her hands,ready to slash the figure open.

 **"Lightning Flame Dragon's Flashing Sword Horn!"** Spiraling himself in crimson lightning flames, Natsu drilled towards the figure together with Meredy as both attacks soon merged together into one attack which soon collided towards the figure and sent him fast towards a wall, destroying it in the process as attacks continue to burrow through it.

A large tremor was soon followed once again as both separated people noticed its intensity.

"HaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaH! ! !" Both mages shouted in frustration as they continue their attacks at the enemy mercilessly as they destroy one wall after another without stopping.

After a few moments of unleashing their anger at the figure, they finally stopped as they dissipated their spells and stopped their attacks as they jumped into an unknown room, blowing enough dust and rubble from their vicinity. They soon tried to regain their composure as the dust around them soon settled.

"I think we've overdid it a bit..." Meredy sheepishly replied as she tried to look back to the holes they made from the walls they passed. Not long soon after, a warm pat on her head was felt by her which prompted her to look up and saw the grinning fire mage beside her.

"W-What?" She began to blush.

"You're starting to learn more... That's my disciple." He chuckled as he simply patted her head for a few seconds which slightly made the pink-haired girl to blush and pout at the same time.

"Muuuoohh... You're cruel Natsu-san..." She pouted despite his teasing.

"Natsu?!" Not long after she said that, a rather familiar voice soon resounded behind them as they all turned around, only to see Erza and Jellal who were dumbfounded at their untimely arrival.

"E-Erza..." He stuttered.

 _'Crap! We ran into her... Fuck this... I'm so dead..'_

"Jellal!" Meredy soon exclaimed in relief as she managed to see her guild member once again.

"Meredy, I'm glad you two are safe.." Jellal could only flash a small smile from the two.

"Hmm. It seems one puppet cannot eliminate you wholly Salamander... It seems like underestimated you." The figure before the four interrupted them as he looked over to the burnt figure and simply disintegrated it with his own magic, leaving nothing but smoke and dust.

"So it's just a puppet.." Meredy realized.

"Be careful you two... We don't know much of that person's power so be on your guard." Erza shouted from behind before moving towards them with Jellal follwing her afterwards.

"Well, the more powerful, the better.. It gets me all fired up nonetheless." Natsu smirked before gearing up against the unknown person together with the three beside him.

"While I'm glad to see you alive and well, I'm quite annoyed at your overconfident behavior Natsu... And what's with you all of a sudden, you're not making any moves on Meredy aren't you?" Erza clarified which caused Natsu to tilt his head and confusion and Meredy to blush madly from her question.

"I don't get what you mean but I'm not doing anything I swear... Well, except for the button thing... My fault.. hehe." He made a dry, trying to pass out his mistake as a joke to get the redhead to calm down.

And in just like that, Natsu was submitted into an arm lock by Erza as her eyes began to look like some sort of a wild animal that was hunting its own prey at night.

"Hoh.. Don't think you can get out of this alive mister... You got us all separated and you probably think you can pass this as a joke huh? Is that what your thinking?" The scarlet knight growled as Natsu simply made a frightened look towards her.

 _'How the hell she was able to read my mind? That's fucking impossible! !'_

"Eeeekkk! I'm sorry. I won't do it again Erza so please, spare my arm! Aaccckkk!" He screamed in pain as Erza tried to tightened her grip on his arm further which made the two other mages to sweatdrop at the sight.

Fearing for the possibility of breaking his arm, Meredy soon discreetly used her own magic to link both Natsu and Erza's senses into one in order to save the former from the latter's wrath.

And in just like that, Erza soon felt her own arm began to feel the same as Natsu's as she tried to release herself from her and looked over to her own arm before realizing it and glared over to the pink-haired mage.

"What was that for?" Erza scowled at Meredy who simply returned an irritated pouted look against her before tugging Natsu's right arm towards hers.

"You're hurting him Erza-san." She replied.

"It's not your concern so why butt in? And why are you holding his arm?" Erza pointed accusingly at her.

"Then why are you also holding his arm?" Meredy again pointed towards the redhead who was holding unto the poor pinkette's left arm which was still sore from her arm lock. Unlike Mered's grip, hers was more tightly which gave him the chills and the pain all over his body.

"It's natural for me to hold unto him since there's someone trying to snatch him away from me." She reasoned.

"You make it sound like you own him... I'm also his comrade too so it's natural for me to hold unto him." Meredy returned her comeback.

"I'm not owning him... His also my comrade and friend so I'll be the one tending to him."

"Guys... My arms... please spare me already." Natsu could only speak softly as the two are seemingly pulling his arms apart rather than hugging them.

Women can be also sometimes scary and deadly at the same time. No wonder why Igneel hated to accept the fact that there are female dragons at his time.

Jellal could only facepalm at the developing situation. As much as he wanted the dragonslayer to get him out from the two woman's grip, he wanted to be at least alive till they finished the quest.

Yup, he'll do just like that.

 _'Sorry Natsu.. Just hold on for a bit more.'_

"It seems like this is gonna take awhile longer for me to clean this up so I'll give you my name...Rafael." He interrupted them as he motioned a gesture of introduction at them before glowing in his own grey aura and summoned multiple puppets around him just like the one that Natsu and Meredy had defeated earlier.

The two girls let go of their hold on Natsu before focusing at the situation at hand. Erza and Jellal could only widen their eyes in shock as they saw them appearing before them and could only grit their teeth in frustration as they found themselves outnumbered. However, Natsu and Meredy simply looked at each other and smiled as they nodded before facing again Rafael with confident smile written on their faces.

"Hoh, you two seemed confident despite lacking in numbers against me." Rafael forced a light taunt against the two as he noticed them.

"We defeated your puppet and we can do so again... I think you should worry about whom you're messing with.." Natsu warned before flaring his fists on fire with Meredy summoning her magical blades around her and readied themselves towards the puppets.

"I wonder which of us would be the one to say that..." Rafael made an intimidating glare over the four.

"Don't also forget us... Remember this as well.. We're Fairy Tail mages!" Natsu shouted.

"We're from Crime Sorciere though." Meredy clarified which made Natsu's cool words to suddenly went crashing down.

"O-Oh yeah.. A-And Crime Sorciere too!" He corrected.

Again, Jellal and Erza made the facepalm towards Natsu and probably to Meredy as well.

What's wrong with this two anyway?

"Interesting... Then come at me.. Fairy Tail and Crime Sorciere.." Rafael could only force a taunt towards them before motioning his puppets to attack them as soon as the four began charging towards them.

The battle was about to start for the possession of the Arcanex.

* * *

 **A/N: Well that's a wrap guys.. The battle was just beginning. Sorry for the lack of romantic developments for the other characters but a battle must be in place in order for this arc to work out so it's just Natsu and Meredy bonding time if you wanna call that romantic development. So again, my updates will be monthly since school doesn't even want me just a couple of days to focus on my stories.**

 **Replies will be given individually on the PMs since I don't want the chapters to range on 12,000 and beyond.**

 **School exams are over, well to the first ones though so there will more unfortunately. Then again, I will try my best to update as fast as I can together with the other stories as well since I'm flooding with many ideas recently so there's no need to worry.**

 **For the ones who wanted romance, again I'm sorry for this since the next chapter will be mostly be battles and will probably show how much everyone had changed in those past five years. Adventure is one genre of this story so it will be balanced between romance as well but don't worry, as soon as the second arc is over, we're back to the circling girl's arc so look forward to it.**

 **That's all for now guys. Stay awesome and I highly respect you all for waiting patiently for this story.. :)**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


	21. Fighting to Save

**A/N: Hello guys. I'm back. Here's chapter 21 of the story. Fights and other revelations will be featured on this chapter. Romance will be at minimum at this moment but I promise to make up for it on the later chapters that will soon feature the continuation of the girls' arc.**

 **And of course, the poll was already closed and the first girl to be featured on the end of the arc will be . . . . . . . Chelia! Congrats! *Confetti***

 **I thank you all for voting and I hope to get more of your supports in the future. :)**

 **There's also a matter of the length of my chapters. From now on, I'll be just shortening them ranging from 5K to 9K due to my schoolwork. It doesn't change anything though the story will be getting more chapters since it was being divided so no worries. Well, depending on my mood to write it again on 10k word chapters then nothing changes really xD. My stories will still get going.**

 **Anyway, moving on. Let's get this chapter started!**

 **Disclaimer: I would never own FT and its characters... Hiro Mashima owns them all.**

* * *

 **\- Fighting to Save -**

Gray skidded a few steps away from the battlefield as he narrowly dodged an incoming debris thrown at him. He grunted as he tried to recompose himself from that attack just now as he looked narrowly at the figure before him.

Apparently, he and the group eventually stumbled unto this figure at the end of the tunnel. He was actually waiting for them to come into them as they were expecting them to show up sooner. And not only that, he seemed to be accompanied with two more persons beside him as they were also part of the group trying to intercept them from getting into others.

It was clear that these three are trying to slow them down and preventing them from proceeding beyond the next tunnel behind them which made him to conclude that it's the way out.

"Are you okay, Gray?" Lucy asked worriedly as she came into view from the smokescreen, obscuring some parts of their surroundings as well.

"Yeah… Just a little scratch... I'm fine. How about the others?"

"They're fine... Happy and Charle are with them." She replied.

"That's great to hear." He smiled before standing up to his feet and faced the figure in front of them. Lucy also turned over to the figure with hostility present in her eyes.

He appears to be wearing some sort of a brown tattered cloak with a mask, placed in a slanting manner that only revealed his right eye to them. A couple of white linens was wrapped in both of his arms and his white spiky hair simply fluttered as the dust settled upon them. Gray and Lucy can only narrowed their eyes suspiciously at the figure as he simply began to taunt them.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me that's all you've got so far... If you did, I might be the unluckiest person for today." Hearing just that made Gray to grit his teeth in anger.

"What do you want?!" Lucy demanded.

"Nothing in particular... Just got an order from the boss that I should not let you two pass beyond this wall." He replied with an uncaring tone.

"So you guys are after the Arcanex, huh?" Gray guessed.

"You catch on pretty quickly, mister." He mused.

"What else it would be? I'm sure there's nothing for you to take on this place except for that thing, am I right?"

The white-haired person simply sighed at his words and could only help but feel bored.

"Well you're right about that. Anyway, should we get this thing started? I'm itching to pummel you two straight to the ground..."

"You seemed pretty energetic about having this fight to start." Gray remarked before moving into a battle stance.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Roddrick, Master Kirge's left hand. Now let's get started, Fairy Tail!" He began to glow in magic power as multiple debris begin to levitate and surround the figure like some sort of a barrier to keep him completely safe from any projectiles thrown at his way.

"Levitation Magic?!" Lucy widen her eyes in realization of the magic he was using.

As soon as the figure was able to finish his magic, he placed his hands forward as the giant debris surrounding him flew towards the two in seemingly blinding speeds. Gray and Lucy had to dodge on separate sides as the debris made contact to the wall that violently shook the entire room.

"Geez, I completely forgot that this place is actually fragile... One mistake and we're all gonna get buried alive, don't you think?" He mocked evilly towards the two who regained their footing before looking at him in disgust.

"This, bastard..." The raven-haired mage could only growl towards him.

It seems like they're not gonna get past to this unless they defeat him. Gray could only frustrate himself as he couldn't help but worry about the others. Right now, they were all scattered around facing different enemies and it's not actually pretty good.

A few moments earlier, they somehow managed to reunite with Sara and Wendy who were also lost in the tunnels ever since they fell from above. But their reunion was cut short from the sudden appearance of the three. Right now, Wendy, Sara and the Exceeds are currently battling the other two on the other section of the room while he was left to face the remaining person together with Lucy.

He must not waste any more time, he needed to end this quickly before more of his comrades become seriously injured.

Clasping his hands together as ice mist formed around it, Gray gathered his own magical power as the ice eventually morphed into a large intricate sword. Looking back at the celestial mage, he began to speak.

"Listen, Lucy. We gotta end this now and meet up with the others..."

"You don't have to tell me that..." She smiled as she picked out one of her golden keys and began to summon her own celestial spirit to aid her in battle.

 **"Gate of the Lion, I open thee: Leo!"** Shouting forth her magic keys, Loke soon appeared in front of him with his usual formal clothes and glasses.

"It's been awhile, Lucy." Loke greeted before reaching out to hold her hand and aimed for a kiss though only to get a bonk on the head by the female mage.

"Now is not the time for that... I'm counting on you, Loke..." Lucy ordered.

The celestial spirit simply smiled as his face soon turned serious apart from his usual flirty attitude towards her. He soon walked over beside Gray to match their footing and gave a confident smirk to the ice mage.

"Yo! It's been awhile since we teamed up..." Loke spoke in a goofy manner.

"Still same as ever, Loke." Gray mused.

"Well, if you put it that way then I guess it's fine."

"Wanna tag along and beat this guy?" Loke could only smile confidently as he used his Light Magic unto his hands as they glowed bright, amplifying the strength of his fists in the process.

"There's no need to tell me that… It's been awhile since I fought enemies."

"Let's go!" The two males soon sprinted towards the figure with Lucy following them for support. Roddrick simply smirked underneath as he waved his hands up above as multiple rock debris flung themselves towards the three in blinding speeds.

"Looks like I'm gonna have some fun with you guys after all…"

..

..

..

Meanwhile at the other section of the room lies a crumbling floor as Sara and Wendy held unto both Happy and Charle respectively with their Aera magic as they looked narrowly at the collapsing floor. Both are displaying slight heavy breaths as they have been fighting for about quite a while now. Apparently, they had to separate themselves to Gray and Lucy in order to get the fight dragged somewhere.

But even so, this is a hard fight for them.

"Are you alright, Sara-san?" Wendy soon asked worriedly over to the blonde-haired dragonslayer who was panting out breaths continuously.

"I'm fine... Just lost a lot of magic from that recent attack." She replied.

"These people are strong…" Wendy muttered.

Both dragonslayers waited until the dust settled as they floated in the air together with the Exceeds. And not a moment later, Wendy and Sara widen their eyes in alarm as the ground below emitted wind blades straight towards them to which they hastily dodged as it crashed over to the ceiling, bringing down debris to the ground.

Both eyes narrowed in alarm as they recovered their positions in the air as the dust settled at the ground floor revealing two white-haired figures.

"Is that all you two got?" One of them mocked towards the two dragonslayers.

"There's no need to taunt that, Milya... We should dispose of them and be done with it." The other person reprimanded her partner.

"Oh come on, Yue. We should at least enjoy this since Master doesn't want us to fight anymore if their other members made it through…"

"Keep yourself focused on battle and don't underestimate them." Yue warned causing Milya to scowl in annoyance before facing up towards the flying dragonslayers with an evil smirk.

Sara and Wendy could only prepare themselves as the two stopped their brief conversation and faced them with serious faces. No matter how they look at it, they seemed to be merciless towards them and that leaves them no choice but to fight to the best of their abilities to win this.

"They seemed pretty ready about this fight... Are you ready, Wendy?" Sara reassured.

"Yes... I've trained to the very best like Natsu-san. I want to be as strong as him so I'll give it all in this battle." Wendy cheered.

"Natsu seemed to be the very reason why you always do your best..." Sara teased which made the sky dragonslayer to blush.

"I-It's not like that!" With a little giggle from the wind dragonslayer, both soon turned once again towards the two with serious faces they began to face them in a fierce battle against each other.

This is now or never. They must defeat them in order to reunite with the others.

"Let's go, Sara-san!" Wendy called out in determination.

"I'm with you, Wendy!" Without warning, both dragonslayers and Exceeds made their descent towards the duo with their respective magics ready to fire against them. The duo seemed content of their own battles as well, showing their faces filled with excitement at the match-up.

"This is going to be interesting... Come, dragon mages...

After that, it resulted a blinding light of explosion that soon obscured the four figures fighting out in the section of the room. A tremor was soon felt by the people around their vicinity as the four finally exchanged their fast attacks and speeds against each other. All of them were simply a hazy blur to the untrained eye, leaving only a trail of shockwaves that shook the entire room even more.

With all of them having to force themselves into a fight, they have no choice but to take the chance as well. Winning against them would be the only option to reunite with the others and reclaim the Arcanex for the sake of their comrade.

The fight is just getting started.

...

* * *

 ** _Back at Natsu and the others..._**

Rafael grinned evilly as the place between him and the four were filled with same puppets that were defeated by Natsu and Meredy earlier. Only this time, they vary in numbers and possess the same battle prowess in each of the puppet he summoned.

Natsu could only grit his teeth in irritation as he found too many enemies to handle all by himself. Not that he has a problem winning against them. It's just that he saw how much they're going to defeat them in order to reach unto him. Not to mention that he was already forgetting that he had three other companions beside him to help.

Being the idiot he is, he always wanted to destroy them all by himself but it seems like it's not gonna happen anytime soon now that Erza is here.

Damn, being paired with Erza is like bad luck. He never really got the gist of working in sync with the redhead in terms of fighting. He wanted to punch and break through everything but she was a bit more of an intellectual type to approach battles.

"Well, so what are we gonna do now, Erza?" The dragonslayer couldn't help but ask since he could never rely on his own plan for awhile now despite the situation they're in.

"We need to dismantle these puppets first before getting into him..." She answered before singlehandedly slashing a puppet coming from behind her in half with her sword which made the pinkette to cower in fear.

"But they just keep on coming..."

"In cases like these, we should focus ourselves towards that guy... If he's doing the summons then it's a simple way to end it." She jumped above the two puppets coming straight at her and requipped multiple swords and sent them down to turn them into shreds.

"If that's the case then I'll do it!" Grinning about the plan, Natsu flared up his fists in flames before looking at the floating man above them with enthusiasm.

"Hoh, I don't like that face of yours... Might as well die and be forgotten in this forsaken place." Rafael smirked evilly as he raised his right hand in the air, forming some type of a dark sphere, seemingly aimed at the dragonslayer.

"Heh... All the more reason to beat the shit out of you!" Natsu clasped his hands together before forming a fiery ball of fire similar that of Rafael's

 **"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"**

 **"Dark Void!"**

Cluster of fire and darkness soon collided within the room and caused a massive power struggle and also created a tremor that shook the entire room as both powers tried to overpower the other with sheer intensity. Eventually, the attacks created an explosion, prompting everyone to shield their eyes from the blast.

Without warning, Natsu dashed out from the cloud of dust thus appearing right before Rafael with another flaming fist in his right hand. The black-haired man was simply calm as Natsu came near him.

 **"Fire Dragon's Meteor Fist!"** Swinging his right fist towards Rafael, Natsu delivered a deadly blow to the midsection of his body that sent him flying across the room and crashed immensely at the wall that generated a lot of tremor.

Natsu landed safely on his feet before looking at the smoked section of the room and simply narrowed his eyes in alarm.

The fight is still far from over.

Suddenly, light and dark magic erupted from the area as Rafael emerged with a slightly tattered clothes which were damaged at his tremendous crash. Despite that condition, he still grinned as if it was nothing.

It would be a shame if he went down easily.

"I had to admit, that was a good punch... I expected nothing less of you, Salamander." Rafael remarked as he dusted his clothes off from the dirt.

"Well, thanks... Though I still have to beat you in order to get the artifact." The pinkette grinned as he stopped his onslaught for a brief moment to talk.

"I'm afraid I have to intervene as well. Master wouldn't like it if his plans were interrupted so I made sure that no one will be able to stand in his way."

"Listen, punk. I don't know what you and your master are doing but if you get in the way in saving my friends or even harm them, I'll make sure you'll pay dearly." Natsu's face immediately contorted into deep anger as he summoned forth his flames around his body while clashing both fists together in rage.

"Then I must dispose of you before you even get towards our master...Come my servants!" Rafael raised his hands in the air as multiple puppets of the same kind began forming themselves in front of the caster, seemingly guarding him.

Erza and the others eventually landed beside the dragonslayer, seemingly ready to face them all together.

"Don't forget about us, Natsu-san... We all have the share the same reason in saving Ultear, right?" Meredy spoke merrily before summoning multiple teal blades above her, very much like Erza's Heaven Wheel magic.

"... Plus with you here, I feel confident that we can get through this." She smiled faintly to which Natsu slightly blushed from it though he disregarded it to focus on his enemy.

"We're right here with you, Natsu!" Jellal added.

He nodded before finally initiating their first attacks towards Rafael and his puppets.

"Let's go!" Leaping out towards the puppets, Natsu and the others released their magic respectively against them and tried to pick them down one by one.

Rafael simply flicked his hand to summon forth more puppets to prevent them from coming near and also wear them down in the process. He needed to dispose these persons as they pose a greater threat for his master's plan than their other companions. Focusing his attention to the dragonslayer, Rafael simply created white and shadow shards around him and sent them towards him.

Natsu widen his eyes in alarm as the shards came closer to him. But before he could even summon his magic, multiple teal blades and steel swords came from behind him and deflected the shards evenly. He looked back only to see Erza and Meredy smiling cheerfully towards him before reassuring him that they got his back.

"Thanks guys!"

 **"Meteor!"** Jellal chanted as his magic enveloped his entire body, granting him immense speed to skip through the puppets before touching them lightly until a magical circle appeared over to puppets he touched.

 **"Heavenly Magic: Corona!"** After shouting briefly, the circles began to glow bright magic before constantly releasing a barrage of explosions as the puppets were simply reduced to ashes. Natsu and Erza were simply astonished at the power of the Crime Sorciere mage as they were left standing in complete awe.

"You're strong..." Natsu muttered.

"It may not seem like it but we've been improving our own powers while taking down dark guilds over the past five years..." He responded with a smile.

"Yup, we're not the same as we are during that time, Natsu-san... ... So you better watch yourself." Meredy came into view before releasing another set of teal blades towards the enemy. She blinked playfully towards the pink-haired dragonslayer that didn't go unnoticed by the scarlet knight in which it resulted to make her blood boil.

"I ain't gonna lose to you too..." He declared before turning over to the redhead.

"...Yo! Erza! Let's go!" The scarlet knight stumbled after hearing her name before recomposing herself to focus on the battle.

"I'm right behind you, Natsu!" She replied before flying towards him.

Meanwhile, Rafael stared narrowly at the four people in front of him. He was still analyzing their battle prowess since he had to be careful in dealing them especially Titania and the Salamander. The other two is completely unknown to him so he had to take caution towards them as well.

Sighing wearily from the distance, the black-haired mage simply stood up and began to flare up his own magical power against them.

"This has been too long... I'll have to finish this before anyone of you gets through our master..." He spoke in hostility as the atmosphere around them began to tense and the four could only take extreme caution of the impending situation.

The ground began to shake as the pressure of his magic was felt by everyone.

"What is happening?" Meredy asked worriedly.

"It seems that he's getting serious this time..." Jellal noted as he looked over to the mage being surrounded by white and dark magic.

"What the hell is that bastard trying to do?!" Natsu gritted his teeth in frustration as he locked his eyes towards Rafael with caution.

Moments later, a powerful surge of white and dark energy soon dispersed violently as the group were left to shield their eyes in the process and stand their ground from the intense shockwave. Puppets simply faded away as the tremor continued to shake the entire room. Eventually, it died down, leaving only a cloud of dust obscuring the black-haired mage which they were expecting to fade anytime soon to reveal the person.

Their eyes soon widen in alarm as they soon saw an enormous figure standing over a couple of meters tall that made the group to stare shockingly towards it. It was a giant robot with intricate designs inscribed on its body structure. A pair of large arms shaped into a spear-like structure is seen on its sides. The chest was adorned with multiple plated armor that seemed very thick to break with force. Spikes and other dangerous elements seen throughout its body made them clearly think that this is not easily dealt without any sustaining injuries from it.

"What the hell is that?!" Natsu spoke in alarm

"This is the strongest puppet I ever created... The Hellbringer. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use it in this battle but it seems like you people are a serious threat after all." He guessed.

"Tch, you're underestimating us! Do you think some measly giant thing can stop us from getting the artifact?!" Natsu challenged before trying to leap towards with a flaming fist.

"Natsu!" Erza called out in worry as she felt something off about the giant automaton before them.

 **"Fire Dragon's Meteor Fist!"** Natsu shouted in frustration as his punch collided to the giant's armored chest that sent tremendous shockwaves, causing the group to shield their eyes in the process. Meanwhile, Rafael could only smirk evilly as the attack was utterly useless against his puppet.

"Wha-" Natsu widen his eyes in shock as he found his flames slowly getting weaker as if it was being absorbed from the inside of the armor that caused him to back away, gazing towards the black-haired man with contorted anger and disbelief. Erza and the others were also stunned from the sight.

"Don't get so full of yourself, Salamander... My Hellbringer can absorb almost any magic thrown against him. It is also durable enough to withstand tremendous attacks like your magic. Sometimes, it was even called to be an Anti-Mage weapon."

"Anti-Mage?! I've never heard of such a thing!" Meredy shouted from afar.

"Hmph... It's not surprising that anyone would not know about this thing since it was forbidden by the Magic Council..." He paused.

"... As the name presents, Hellbringer is the answer for any mages out there, including all of you. The world is so divided into two different people; the mages and the people who cannot use magic at all. By making this, I'm able to defeat powerful mages and it seemed that you four will be its next victims." He smiled devilishly before laughing in an evil manner.

"A mage with a possession of an anti-mage weapon... This is pretty bad." Jellal analysed.

"If our magics won't work against it, what can we do about it?" Meredy asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We'll have to defeat that man so that thing won't move anymore... He's controlling the puppet in his hands. If we could take out the user then the robot will be useless anymore." Erza proposed.

"Sounds like a good plan... I'm in." Natsu clashed his fists together, feeling happy despite their situation.

"Looking at the size of that thing, it may be slow but we can't be sure so don't let your guard down... That man could give as much fight as we are so we'll have to fight to our very best...!" The scarlet knight proposed before requipping into her Adamantine Armor.

"I'll hold back the robot while you guys try to disable Rafael from behind..."

"Got it!" Jellal and Meredy nodded in response before leaping out from opposite directions to get past the giant robot. Natsu remained standing beside the scarlet knight which confuses her.

"Natsu?"

"I'm not gonna leave you to that thing... We'll do this together." He proposed but Erza simply denied.

"Natsu, you saw what that thing can do? It's useless against magics. I'll just have to divert its attention so you guys won't have problem from it."

"True, but I can't just let you get hurt by that thing yourself... If we work together we could minimize it... Plus, I don't want to see you hurt, Erza." He solemnly spoke and not before it blushes the redhead madly after hearing his last sentence.

Why did he have to say such sweet words at such a time?

Smiling in content, Erza looked up to the dragonslayer before stroking his pink locks and pulled his head towards hers before gently touching each other's foreheads.

"Thank you, Natsu..."

"No problem... Well then, shall we do this?"

"Just say the usual word." Natsu grinned before clasping his hands ablaze.

"I'm all fired up!"

With that said, the two Fairy Tail mages split themselves into different directions as Erza went towards the front and simply activated her armor, creating a magical circle in front of her shield and closed together to make one powerful defense power against the robot.

"Hoh... The Adamantine Armor... The armor used to withstand even the full force of the Magical Convergent Cannon: Jupiter. I wonder if that will keep you from able to block all its attacks." Rafael remarked as the giant robot began to lock its target towards the redhead with its two large and sharp spears.

A stinging loud collision was heard throughout the room as the giant robot simply drilled its attacks towards Erza's shield continuously. The redhead gritted her teeth in frustration as the force of each attacks rattled her bones. Though able to withstand its initial attacks, Erza had to use much energy in her body to keep her standing against the puppet alone.

On the side of the robot, Natsu sprinted quickly as he tried to maneuver his way across the room before leaping high from a debris and into the air, calling out his flames once more.

 **"Fire Dragon's Fiery Blast!"** Clasping his hands together, Natsu dived down towards the robot's head and slammed it with his flame-enhanced fists that caused it to stumble a bit from its position as the force of the spell forced it to stutter.

Erza took the opportunity to slip her way past from the robot's front and requipped into her Flight Armor to catch Natsu.

The two simply floated away, observing how much the attack could really harm the giant robot as they watched it become static for a moment after taking an attack from the dragonslayer.

Moments later, the robot suddenly swung its giant spear towards the two which they widen their eyes in alarm before avoiding the deadly swing easily.

"What the hell? It has no effect at all?" Natsu spoke in disbelief.

"This will be harder than we thought..." Erza could only ponder in thought as she tried to scan for any weaknesses against their enemy.

"It looks like it doesn't give anything..."

"If that's the case, we should leave the caster to Jellal and Meredy." She looked towards the other side of the room, hoping for the success of the two. With them holding off the giant puppet at bay, they could only place their faith unto those two.

...

...

...

Meredy and Jellal hastily made their way towards Rafael as they sighted his figure a few meters away from Natsu and Erza. Both eyes narrowed seriously before the pink-haired girl summoned three large magical blades and launched them towards him.

Rafael simply flicked his finger before shards of white and dark deflected the blades easily.

"Jellal, now!" Meredy signaled as the blue-haired mage appeared right above her as he began to chant his own spell against the enemy. With two hands placed at front and on top of each other, he activated his spell as seven magic seals appeared around him and marked themselves behind him into a form of a constellation before white streams of light connected each other.

 **"Grand Chariot!"** Shouting briefly, Jellal rains down multiple rays of lights towards Rafael in blinding speeds that came out from the magic circles above. However, the black-haired mage simply smirked before releasing his own magic to counter the devastating spell.

 **"Umbra!"** Placing both hands down, similar black rays spurted out form the ground and eventually met up with the rays of light that resulted multiple explosions that caused another tremor inside the room.

Jellal widen his eyes in surprise as he saw his spell eventually countered with same manner but with different form of magic.

"What the-" He landed a safe distance from the man beside Meredy and stopped attacking each other briefly.

"Heavenly Body Magic... a caster magic that allows the user to use the power of the astronomical objects." Rafael explained.

"You seemed to know about our magics." Jellal remarked.

"Of course, just as I'm exploiting the depths of magic, I've taken the liberty of studying each one of them... I'm surprised that one of you possessed a rather Lost Magic, the Maguilty Sense." He smirked before looking at the pink-haired girl who simply raised her guard up cautiously.

"I see, so you studied all of them..."

"Not all of them... some magics are still hidden from the knowledge of man so I can't say that I knew all of them... The world of magic is vast and mankind could only take a small glimpse on it."

"So I take it that you're a researcher of magic too..." Rafael lightly nodded in response.

"... Then would you tell me about the Last Ages?" He demanded which shocked Meredy.

"Jellal?! What are you doing?" Despite her protest, Jellal ignored her and wanted to listen intently to him if he had the knowledge of the lost magic even he was the enemy. He wasn't expecting an answer but Rafael surprisingly complied.

"You're mentioning about a forbidden taboo that can shake the streams of time at the cost of one's time and body. But why ask me?"

"I figured that if you and your master were here for the Arcanex which involves time then that would make you knowledgeable about other related time magics, right?" He clarified.

"Well, you guessed correctly. I also knew some time magics."

"Then may I ask you about the Arc of Time?"

"Jellal! Don't give away information that easily." Meredy tried to dissuade but the blue-haired mage simply turned towards her.

"This is the only chance that we may able to understand Ultear's magic and the Arcanex as well..."

"That's true but how can you be so certain? We can't trust that guy.."

"Trust me on this, Meredy... If he was telling the truth then I will bet on everything I have to save Ultear when all are revealed to us..." He answered seriously which made her hesitant to answer.

"Fine..." She finally agreed before glancing back to Rafael.

"So will you tell us about the Last Ages?"

"I don't see a problem..." He calmly answered before starting his explanation.

"... I take it that you all knew that what you're talking about is a taboo, right?" He paused to answer to which the two nodded lightly.

"... Last Ages was originally an ancient spell used by ancient people to redone the outcome of the future when doom and destruction are upon them... It was originally referred to what mages call today as the magic to turn back time. However, it is not the physical body that travels back in time but rather the conscious mind of the person." After saying that, Jellal and Meredy could only look at each other as they somehow knew that related topic.

"... When used by the person, other people- no, rather the whole world experiences a prediction of an incoming future which had happened long ago. This was supposed to be the last spell to be ever used on man if doom is approaching to the world. However, the use of that spell will destabilize the current flow of time." He grimly spoke.

"... If one stretched far on turning back time, it would undoubtedly create countless ripples on the stream of time that will result on more destruction from both past, present and the future. That is why many haven't applied the elements of magic towards time since this was a great enigma to mankind. Only one was able to construct such unbelievable feat in turning back time, the infamous Black Mage Zeref." Jellal and Meredy simply froze on their positions not until recomposing themselves.

"... It is he who took the concept of the Last Ages from the ancient times to construct to what was known as the Eclipse Gate." The two widen their eyes in surprise as they found out the root cause of existence of the gate was from Ultear's forbidden taboo.

"T-That's impossible!"

"I won't force you... The Last Ages was already reduced into a mere legend today and it's original knowledge was lost forever. Creating a replica of the same magic is merely an imitation but will not harness the same strength as the original had been. That is why the Magic Council forbid in exploiting its false knowledge as it would bring only harm to the people trying to cast it."

"Are you saying that the people trying to cast it knew that it was going to fail even after understanding it?" Meredy asked.

"Yes and no... People who are naive to think that they can turn back time by the use of the false taboo are simply the ones who are despaired to eventually know the truth of it. In the end, their lives were nothing more but a waste on such an ancient magic's false power-" Without finishing his statement, Meredy quickly launched herself towards Rafael with a giant teal blade in her hands to which the black-haired mage simply blocked it with his hand.

"Are you saying that Ultear's sacrifice is nothing more but a waste?! Are you saying that using that forbidden taboo was in vain to save the ones she truly cared about?! Answer me!" She glowered in anger as she tried to overpower the man with her strength.

"You're an annoying brat. Die!" He tried to summon white and dark shards around him to impale the girl in front of him but was completely surprised as flash of light zoomed past him and grabbed the girl and not before long a magical circle appeared on his right shoulder.

Without giving him time to react, Rafael was engulfed in a huge explosion of light that caused the two to shield their eyes from the blast.

"Let go of me, Jellal! I won't forgive that guy!"

"Don't lose your head, Meredy! We must be calm in dealing such situations like this."

"How could you say that after hearing everything from him?! I can't just stand there having someone to mock about Ultear!" She was on the verge to cry but Jellal simply gazed towards the smoke before them.

"I know what you feel... In fact, even I wanted to beat him up so badly after saying all that." His voice began to contort in anger as Meredy was shocked to find that he was on the verge of losing it.

"... But even so I must keep myself under control... We're already this far to save Ultear, we can't be all losing our temper when we're so close to our goal." Meredy bit her lip in frustration as she failed to keep herself cool at all times.

As they were talking, a gale of wind soon erupted from the spot where Rafael once was, clearing the dust around him and revealed a mildly damaged appearance on the man body. The spell was simply deadly enough to knock people from that devastating blast. It was quite surprising that he was able to stand up straight from its point blank range.

"I had to admit, that really stings... So I guess, talks are over..." He guessed.

"Yeah... We have no more to talk about!" Jellal replied back with hostility.

"Then, let me give a last piece of the information... If one used the Last Ages, he would experience a drastic change on his body's time and eventually will grow old in just a couple of hours."

"So what's your point?"

"You never know what is the second effect, don't you? Using that false taboo gives one an eternal curse of the taboo itself. Even though you knew that the aging process has stopped, the time of the person still accelerates faster than that of a human being... In other words, the taboo will lead the person faster to his own death as his own time was shorten quickly." He smiled evilly, causing the two widen their eyes in disbelief.

"What did you say?!"

"Let's just say a human being lives to a span on approximately 80 to 90 years of age. With the eternal curse of the taboo, it was shorten to only last 50 years for the human to survive a lifetime. I wonder what will that person would be right now after endlessly suffering from the curse up until now... Pretty painful, don't you think?"

"No-No way... That would mean-"

"Yes... Little by little, the person will approach death without even knowing it."

"That's why she was getting weaker all these years..." Jellal assumed for the worst.

"That is the price of using such a false taboo... Death will come of that person no matter how hard you try to help."

 **"Maguilty Sense: Blade Dance!"** Meredy shouted in frustration as multiple teal blades appeared around Rafael and quickly launched themselves towards him without remorse, creating another smokescreen in the vicinity.

"Meredy!"

"I won't forgive him! I will never forgive him!" She shouted in anger as went straight towards the smoke to continue her relentless attacks.

"Meredy! We need to regroup!"

"Can't you hear what he just said?! Ultear's in danger! We need to get the Arcanex or it will be too late!" She reasoned though her eyes soon widen in surprise as Rafael appeared behind her.

"I'm sorry but my master has already made his way towards the Arcanex and that leaves me to dispose all of you here." Doing a roundabout kick, Rafael sent the pink-haired mage away from her by hitting her in the back which shocked Jellal.

"Meredy!" He called out in worry as he simply caught the girl into his arms, preventing her to crash into a nearby debris.

"Hahaha! There's nothing for you to do... It will only a matter of time before Master Kirge has possession of the artifact. This will be the end of you..." He grinned evilly before summoning a ball of darkness from his palm and tried to aim it to the two.

"End of the line, Crime Sorciere mages!"

"NOT YET!" A very familiar loud voice rang throughout the room which prompted the three to stop their ventures and eventually look towards the source of the voice.

"What are you talking about? This battle is already been decid-" He stopped as he was left to open his eyes widely and eventually leaped back a few meters away from the Crime Sorciere mages as a giant metal arm fell between them.

It was not long before the two eventually looked up and simply stuttered in surprise as the giant metal robot began to fall down towards the ground. Its arm was ripped out from its body as it was seen it becoming more inoperable than it was before. Smoke and fire are visible in other parts of its body which also are sustained too much heavy damage due to its broken armor plates.

It was not long before another loud collision sound boomed throughout the room and eventually had the robot' other arm got ripped off. Jellal and Meredy simply managed to get a glimpse of a scarlet blur and could only smile in delight.

"Wha...What the hell happened?" Rafael stuttered in disbelief. His eyes soon darted over to a crimson blur from above as Natsu descends from the air with a flaming right fist.

"DON'T TAKE LIGHTLY ON OUR BONDS! WE'LL SHOW YOU THE POWER OF FAIRY TAIL!" Natsu shouted in defiance as Rafael was left stare oddly at the sight before him.

Behind the dragonslayer was a hazy but intimidating image of a giant red dragon before him, seemingly angered as the flames grew brighter and eventually neared towards the man and collided his fist into his face that sent him flying towards the debris and crashed eventually. At the background, Erza pierced through the robot's chest as it finally fell down to the ground, completely defeated.

Both mages descended to the ground beside the two with sustaining injuries from their seemingly heavy fight.

"Natsu!" Meredy exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't leave us out yet... we're in this together, Meredy!" He smiled.

"You guys..." Jellal muttered.

At the site of the crash, Rafael stumbled out from the smoke as he was left to stare in disbelief at the sigh of his fallen puppet at the distance.

"H-Hellbringer..." He muttered in a stuttering manner as he looked at his strongest puppet eventually taken down by two mages alone. It was supposed to be anti-mage weapon yet it was defeated by tow measly mages.

"Wha-What did you do?!" He demanded as he gazed over to the two mages guarding the two behind them.

"Erza simply used a new awesome armor..." He gleefully cheered before looking at the redhead who faintly blushed in response. Her armor consist of a breastplate, waistguard, gauntlets and leg plates dyed in greenish silver color. A large silver jousting lance is seen in possession on her right hand with well decorated designs over its tip.

"This is the Piercing Armor! An armor that pierces through everything. Even though you're pupper boasts to have the highest form of armor, my armor simply cancels out that logic and pierce through it."

"That's impossible! No such armor can never be created like that..."

"I wonder about that..." She then turned over to the two together with Natsu and reached out a helping hand. Jellal and Meredy accepted it respectively before facing towards the enemy in complete determination.

"This will be our counter attack! Let's go!" Natsu charged in with Rafael taking caution as he created a thousand shards around and flicked his hands down to which the shards followed. A smokescreen blew up into the vicinity as Rafael smirked evilly at the result.

His brief happiness was soon interrupted as the smoke cleared and revealed an unharmed Natsu with Erza blocking the entire shards with her Adamantine Armor.

"Since when did she-" He stopped before looking to the corner of his eyes and found Jellal and Meredy closing on him on different direction with their respective magics.

 **"Maguilty Sense: Seven Blades of Light!"**

 **"Heavenly Magic: Prominence!"**

Releasing both blades and a huge ray of light, Rafael could only block the attacks with his own body as he was engulfed into a huge explosion that reached a couple meters and shook the earth once again. Smoke cleared as the black-haired mage was thrown in the air due to the intense force of the attack dealt in his body. He gritted his teeth in anger as he once again found himself on the mercy of Natsu and Erza seemingly summoning forth their powerful magics towards him.

 **"Heaven's Wheel: Blumenblatt!"**

 **"Fire Dragon's Crimson Claw Attack"**

Two respective attacks went through the mage's body and was sent furiously towards a nearby giant pillar, generating a huge crash that soon caused the pillar to collapse from the top and eventually went down to the ground together with the mage. Natsu and Erza descended through a safe distance together with the two as they left to stand and wait as the smoke cleared on the spot where Rafael crashed.

Soon after, the mage stumbled out from the smoke with multiple bruises and injuries from their joint attacks. He held his right hand over to his left shoulder as his body was able to withstand the intense force given to him by them.

"He was still able to stand?!" Meredy exclaimed in surprise.

"But he seemed seriously injured." Natsu noted.

"Don't let your guard down..." Erza warned before requipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and summoned swords just for caution.

..

..

Meanwhile, Rafael faintly smiled under his breath as his face was shadowed by his hair, completely devoid of emotion. He staggered wearily from one step to the other as he tried to match his distance towards the four. His clothes were beyond repair and his body was already at its limits.

At this rate, he won't be able to do anything to stop them from getting further through the ruins with the master.

"Sorry, Master Kirge... It seems like I have to use it as well." He muttered before a large surge of magical power erupted in his body that covered him wholly with white and dark particles.

The four simply stood their ground and shielded their eyes as they felt a tremendous concentration magical power on the covered mage.

"What the hell?!" Natsu shouted in alarm.

"What kind of power is this?" Jellal felt his body tense up for some reason as he continue to gaze cautiously at the magical pressure surrounding Rafael.

Something is not good with that thing.

* * *

"What is happening?!" A mildly wounded Sara called out in alarm as she began to see both Milya and Yue covered in black and white mists that obscured their figures from the dragonslayers.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Wendy simply replied back as she saw their opponents being engulfed in a sphere of white and black.

"Be careful... We don't know anything about them and their capabilities. They must be getting serious from now on." Charle added.

"Aye."

Milya blankly looked beside her companion and simply frowned in thought.

"Yue... This is..."

"It seems like Rafael has unleashed it."

"Then that means-" She was about to speak before Yue interrupted her before nodding in response.

"The real fight starts here, Milya... Rafael must've acknowledge our enemies as a real threat. We should dispose of them as quickly as possible."

"Like you never asked." She smirked evilly as she looked over to the two wary dragonslayers one last time before being engulfed completely by the sphere together with Yue.

...

...

...

On the other hand, Gray and Lucy widen their eyes in alarm as they felt a strong magical presence surrounding the entire room as their eyes tracked the source of the magic.

"What the hell is this magical pressure?" Gray stuttered in disbelief.

"This is not absolutely from Natsu... It feels dreadful." Lucy added.

"Princess, look!" Loke soon pointed over to the white-haired mage who also began to be coated by some sort of a white and black sphere. The two simply widen their eyes in disbelief as they had no clue of what's going on.

"Tsk, that damn Rafael... Isn't it too early to use it?" Roddrick clenched his fist tightly in anger as he muttered to an open space before returning back to the two.

"What the hell is going on?" Gray demanded.

"It seems one of my guildmates had decided to use our limit breakers... That simply put us to acknowledge you all as formidable enemies." He smirked as the sphere began to coat him completely.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked curiously.

"You'll find it soon enough…" He trailed off his words with an intimidating manner as his figure disappeared from the sphere and covered him completely thus concealing his presence from the two who were extremely confused and agitated at the same time.

* * *

As the sphere continued to rotate and cover Rafael in complete obscurity, Natsu and the others simply back away for caution as something is about to happen anytime soon.

"Everyone, get back!" Jellal shouted.

With the group keeping the safe distance, Rafael finally finished his chanting and finally whispered deeply before unleashing the unknown magic.

 **"Limit Breaker: Ascendance!"** Without warning, the sphere immediately bursts violently as mist of white and black scattered from all over the place as the group simply shielded themselves from the shockwave.

Eventually, the force died down as smoke obscured the surroundings between them and the unknown mage. Natsu and the others waited tensely at the smokescreen before as if they were expecting something inside it.

A small gale of wind carried the smoke away, causing them to widen their eyes in shock and disbelief to what they saw. There stood Rafael who had seemingly undergone into a huge transformation. His hair was no longer black as it was replaced into some kind of a greenish white ethereal one. Two streams of white and dark magic attach themselves in his arms as it swayed above him. His face was no longer human-like as it features a rather pale white skin with a pair of yellow dark eyes which then glared towards them.

"What the hell is that?!"

"This is the Limit Breaker... A magical release to push our magic's true potential." His voice sounded otherworldly as he slowly lifted his hand and a magic circle flashed in front of him and casts his own magical spell towards the four.

In just a moment, Erza and Jellal felt their bodies became limp as they simply fell to the ground like ragdolls much to their dismay and surprise.

"Erza! Jellal!"

"I-I can't move!" Erza stuttered in disbelief as her body won't listen to her as if her body was simply disconnected to her brain as she can't move it on her own despite not being wounded in the process.

"You bastard! What did you do?!" Natsu soon began to flare himself in crimson flames.

"Don't even try to underestimate our powers, Salamander... My magic is Puppet Control so naturally with my magic pushed far to the limits, I can even manipulate the body of my enemies though you are an exception since you easily burned the ethereal strings that tried to bind you in the process." He explained.

"P-Puppet Control?! E-Ethereal strings... Since when did it have us?" Jellal tried to ask.

"Ever since I unleashed my magic limit breaker. I have ascended to the point where I can use the other plane to initiate my strings. Not even your five senses could sense it binding you in the process..." He paused.

"... This is Absolute Control!" He shouted in an evil manner before laughing hysterically to which Natsu simply gritted in frustration.

"Let them go!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Instead, let me have something that will keep you company." He raised his other hand in gesture as if he was about to attack.

And not before long Natsu had to hastily dodge an incoming teal blade that tried to cut him down from behind, causing a small blast as the dragonslayer skidded away from the vicinity before looking in utter surprise as Meredy had struck down her magic against him. Even the pink-haired girl was shocked to find her body moving on its own without her consent.

"W-What...? N-Natsu?!" She stuttered in disbelief.

"Meredy..."

"Hahaha... That's right! Let's have a little entertainment between you two." Rafael laughed once again as he watched amusingly at the two mages.

Natsu simply stood there completely dumbfounded at the turn of events. It was then, he noticed a trail of tears coming out from the pink-haired girl from her eyes, causing him to freeze in shock.

"N-Natsu... ... ... Run."

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a focking wrap! I'm really sorry guys for not updating so early. School has eaten my time here and I had to postpone this in order to prepare myself in the upcoming finals. I'm really uncertain about the next update because I have to review for a long time to get a pass on my grades. Hope you all understand.**

 **Now for the chapter, well shit... Meredy is forced to fight Natsu. Quite unexpected...  
Well, I did thought out my own way to think up of the enemy's magic so yeah, I wanted to have some intense and emotional battle in between since I'd like my fights that way.**

 **We're getting on halfway of the arc itself so the girls' arc will circle around once more so hang tight in there if you want to experience more love than fights. We're almost there in saving Ultear lol!**

 **Anyways, this is it for the chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it and thank you all for waiting. I deeply appreciate it :)**

 **See ya around, guys and don't forget to leave a review!**

 **\- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...**


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